"Politics is brutal," said the Rev. Robert Dowd, president of the University of Notre Dame. "It's brutal."

Dowd was speaking Friday with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, and New Mexico's Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as part of the Indiana college's Democracy Initiative.

The talk, title "Pragmatism over Polarization," came a little over a week after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed in Cox's state at Utah Valley University. Political violence and partisanship were among the key topics discussed by the two Western governors.

"In a moment of increasing polarization and political violence in the U.S., join us for a conversation about Western state pragmatism as a model for more constructive engagement," read a promotional slide ahead of the fireside chat.

Cox said

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