Katie McKellar

(Utah News Dispatch) Hours after conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, a morose Utah Gov. Spencer Cox took the podium at a news conference alongside state and federal law enforcement officials.

Cox — a Republican who has devoted a large part of his political career trying to encourage bipartisanship in an increasingly politically polarized world — did more than condemn Kirk’s killing, calling it a “political assassination.”

“This is a dark day for our state,” the governor said. “It’s a tragic day for our nation.”

Though Cox has tried to combat polarization in favor of civil discourse through his Disagree Better campaign, his home state made worldwide headlines for the very thing he’s tried to discoura

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