When a container ship struck a pier resulting in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore knew that tragedy was not a time for partisanship or dueling press conferences.
“There had to be an unified front,” he said, noting that he knew “we’re dealing with a moment when we can either succeed as a team, or we would fail miserably.”
As Moore was mourning the loss of six workers, grappling with his state’s altered economy, and dealing with the convergence of media to Baltimore, he received a text from his friend, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.
Cox was one of the first people to reach out, Moore said.
When tragedy strikes it is an opportunity to come together, Cox said.
“Everything is becoming politicized,” he said. “Usually, we would get a few days when something terrible happened in our nation, before we went to our partisan corners. And now you don’t even get a few minutes.”
Cox, a Republican, and Moore, a Democrat, spoke about the importance of bipartisanship during a Headliners lunch and discussion at the National Press Club on Thursday — continuing a pattern of working together to advocate for depolarization, civility and dignity.
The pair has appeared together on “Good Morning America,” co-authored a Deseret News op-ed, and spoke together at a forum at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
As they have come together to talk about how to disagree on issues — even polarizing ones, Cox said they have not forgotten the things they have in common. “We’re both dads, we’re both husbands, we both love college football, we have great hair,” said Cox.
Cox served as the 2023-2024 chairman of the National Governors Association — promoting the initiative, “Disagree Better: Healthy Conflict for Better Policy.” Moore, now the vice chair of the National Governors Association, is a veteran and Maryland’s first Black governor, the third African American elected governor in the history of the United States.
National Press Club president Mike Balsamo moderated the conversation, noting that at this time “American democracy feels under pressure” and “public trust in government is low, and the political rhetoric has grown even more heated.”
One answer to these and the other issues facing the nation is service, the governors said.
Amid political divisiveness and political vitriol, “I just believe deeply that service will save us,” said Moore. “If we can be a state, if we can be a nation where people actually work together on hard things — getting to know each other, getting to be able to create those common bonds — that is the thing that helps to break apart this calcified division that is just sitting over people.”
Cox added that the research shows very clearly that service is a way to depolarize society. “It’s also good for your health…,” he said. “It lowers your blood pressure; it helps with your mental health.”
Still, Cox said advocating for bipartisanship is not always popular. In fact, during the election cycle last year, the governor’s Republican and Democratic challengers agreed on one thing — that they disagreed with Cox’s “Disagree Better” campaign, even making a commercial together to mock it.
Bipartisan depolarization work is “tough sledding right now,” said Cox.
“It takes real guts to actually try to talk to the other side and to try to find common ground and to try to work together. That’s where the real courage is right now in our politics, and there’s too little of it.”
Moore said one thing that he shares in common with Cox is that they both lead states where they share the same political party with their general assemblies; Maryland, for example, has a Democrat majority in its House and Senate, just as Utah’s House and Senate are controlled by Republicans.
But that doesn’t mean “everyone just thinks the same,” he said.
“I don’t think that a single party has a market corner on good ideas, and I don’t think a single party has the market corner on bad ideas,” said Moore.
That was evident as the pair shared thoughts on redistricting, redrawing congressional maps and gerrymandering; immigration and securing borders; and the deployment of the National Guard to American cities.
For a governor it comes down to what are “you going to prioritize, and what are you going to focus on,” said Moore.
One focus right now, he said, needs to be “a preservation of democracy.”
“When I told my family that I was running for governor, I had to convince many members of my family to vote for me. And it’s not that we’re not cool, like we’re cool. It’s that I had to convince them to vote. I had to convince them to come out and cast the ballot.”
The fabric “that we stand by, that we fight for, that we will give everything up for” is actually what’s being tested in people’s minds right now, Moore said.
Leaders have to demonstrate that the foundations of America “are worth fighting for,” he added.
Cox said “the people we elect are just a reflection of us.”
For Washington to change, “we have to change our community,” said Cox.
“I think we make a mistake when we tell our kids that they need to go out and change the world,” said Cox. “I think we need to stop saying that, because mostly it’s not true. Most of them are not going to go out and change the world. That’s not how this works. But what I do say is, ‘Go out and change your neighborhood and your community.’ That’s where we need to start making this change and giving back and making a difference.”
