Republican governors Bill Lee and Spencer Cox say they want to forge alliance against partisan rancor

In a time of harsh political division, listening with empathy and civility can build understanding and respect between sides and bridge the partisan divide.

That’s the message brought to Nashville by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox at the National Governors Association's "Disagree Better" presentation in the Omni Hotel on Tuesday. Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, joined Cox, also a Republican, to discuss how to address increasing levels of “divisiveness and toxicity” across the nation.

“I’m not an expert on civility, and I don’t have this figured out any more than a lot of people do — but I want to. It’s very much part of what I want to be as a person,” Lee said. “To exercise and model this idea of treating people with equal dignity that I believe we all share — I think it can be done.”

Cox is the chairman of the National Governors Association this year. His yearlong initiative “Disagree Better” has facilitated conversations in several different states aimed at helping Americans to bridge the partisan divide.

Lee touted his gubernatorial campaign, which he ran without using negative and attack ads against his opponents. Cox said he and his wife, Abby, had a similar conversation when he first decided to seek the governorship.

“We had people tell us that you couldn’t win a race today in modern politics without running negative ads against your opponents,” Cox said. “We were willing to lose trying.”

Though, Cox added, now that he’s up for re-election, “some days, I really want to run those ads!”

Lee said the most poignant and meaningful encounter of respectful disagreement came during his meeting this year with RovVaughn Wells, mother of 29-year-old Memphis FedEx worker Tyre Nichols, who died in January 2023 at the hands of Memphis police after a traffic stop.

After Nichols’ death, his parents advocated for local Memphis legislation to end traffic stops for minor infractions —such as the one that ended in the death of their son. The legislation was dubbed the “Driving Equality Act in Honor of Tyre Nichols.”

This year, Republicans in the state legislature proposed a statewide bill that would undo the local legislation Wells worked to pass.

“She felt like it was offensive, like it was a slap in the face to what had happened in the city,” Lee said. “I understood the complexity.”

Lee said he met with Wells to hear out her objections to the legislation that would reverse policy she’d backed to honor her son.

“This woman let me have it — in my office, sitting across the table from me,” Lee recalled. “She held back nothing about her emotions and how she felt about it and what she thought about this piece of legislation, and what it meant personally to her. It was the most respectful let-me-have-it that I’ve ever had in my life.”

Lee said he was “overwhelmed” by Wells’ grace. By the end of their meeting — while the two still materially disagreed about the proposal — Lee said they had established “respect for one another,” and would meet again.

“I’ve never had an encounter with someone who disagrees so vehemently and wanted to express their passionate disagreement with me in such a respectful way,” Lee said.

Lee ultimately signed the bill into law.

Civility has been a rhetorical theme of Lee’s second term. When interrupted by heckling protestors in the gallery during his State of the State address this year, Lee responded off-script, saying that “civility is a strength, it’s not a weakness” — to cheers from supporters and jeers from upstairs.

“I’ve never really known what it was like to be hated until I got into this job. Now I do, and now I get to practice loving people that hate me,” Lee said. “If we can each find our ways to lean into this, I think we can have an impact.”

Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at [email protected] or on X @Vivian_E_Jones.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN governor joins Utah governor in Nashville to discuss civility