Utah Gov. Spencer Cox completed the first year of his second term as one of the most prominent leaders in Utah history.
Prior to 2025, Cox curated a reputation as a champion of rapid growth, a critic of social media and a crusader against political contempt.
By the end of the year, Cox had become a national spokesperson for all three.
This profile did not emerge out of nowhere.
Cox had worked for years to expand his “abundance agenda,” his battle with Big Tech and his “Disagree Better” campaign beyond the Beehive State.
But it was events outside of his control that threw Cox into the national spotlight.
A world-historic tariff shakeup, an emerging AI revolution and a shocking political assassination on Utah soil all found Cox at center stage.
One political observer told the Deseret News that Cox’s unique response to these events made him “probably the most famous governor we’ve ever had.”
“I just don’t think any governor has had the timing the way that Gov. Cox has,” said Leah Murray, a political science professor and director of the Walker Institute of Politics & Public Service at Weber State University.
Throughout this year, Cox has repeatedly rejected any suggestion that he plans to build on his new name recognition with a bid for higher office.
But that hasn’t stopped the chatter, as 2025 was also the year Cox navigated challenging events in a way that captured the nation’s attention.
Charlie Kirk
Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz remembers the first words Cox spoke to him on Sept. 10 after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot at Utah Valley University.
“We will find this guy.”
Over the next 72 hours, Cox “really was the quarterback” coordinating the manhunt for Kirk’s killer and crafting the message for the nation, according to Schultz.
“Gov. Cox said the right things at the right time to the public, and he wasn’t afraid to make bold statements,” Schultz, R-Hooper, told the Deseret News.
During multiple national press conferences, Cox reminded Americans that Utah still prosecutes the death penalty, while also asking the country to find an “off-ramp” to political division.
Between Friday and Sunday afternoon, Cox appeared on CNN, Fox News, CBS and ABC to make the point, which he also later made in a “60 Minutes” interview, that “the future of our country is at stake.”
Cox’s media blitz seems to have made an impact.
A Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll, conducted from Sept. 10-15, found that 41% of American adults approved of Cox’s response, 17% disapproved and 42% didn’t know.
The assassination of Kirk has only accelerated Cox’s aggressive attacks against social media companies for allegedly promoting outrage, addiction and extremism.
His admonitions for Americans to “touch grass” have increasingly earned Cox the praise of East Coast intellectuals, as well as a notable call for him to run for president as a “cause candidate” so he can shed additional light on the dangers of technology.
Abundance
Cox has also been recognized as a leader in paving the way for technological advancement in the areas of sustainable energy and artificial intelligence.
As chair of the Western Governors’ Association, Cox is promoting an “Energy Superabundance” initiative, lobbying the federal government to remove barriers to nuclear, geothermal and other energy development.
As part of Cox’s “Operation Gigawatt,” Utah has been recognized as having the best policy environment for nuclear energy in the country. In November, Cox announced a small nuclear power plant coming to Brigham City.
Cox has framed these as essential steps to handle a surge in demand driven by AI data centers. On AI, Utah has also been recognized nationally, and internationally, for forward-looking regulations.
Amid orders from the White House blocking state AI policies, Cox has continued to call for government intervention to incentivize “pro-human” AI development that benefits, instead of breaking, society.
Cox has garnered his fair share of criticism, too, for his focus on unlocking a certain kind of growth.
Industry insiders accuse Cox of hamstringing solar farms, local leaders decry his heavy-handed approach to starter-home zoning laws and providers worry his central homeless campus will look more like a prison.
Cox’s hard break from a “housing first” strategy for homeless services has attracted skeptical reviews from The New York Times at home, and the London Times abroad, for aligning with Trump administration priorities.
On this issue Cox insists, once again, that Utah is taking the lead, and the rest of the country should take notice.
On other issues, however, Cox has taken a different leadership role in reacting to the president’s policies.
Trade, immigration earthquakes
Since endorsing President Donald Trump for the first time in 2024, Cox has kept his public criticism of Trump to a minimum. But he has also yet to fully endorse the president’s overhaul of U.S. trade and immigration frameworks.
A week after Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcements of a tariff regime rearranging the global economic order, Cox made headlines in Canada by leading a preplanned trade mission to declare: “We are open for business.”
Cox’s emphasis on “subnational diplomacy” made Utah the first state to visit Canada after Trump’s tariffs, and the only U.S. representative at an international conference in Australia, said Jonathan Freedman, the CEO of World Trade Center Utah.
“The governor provided steady, stable leadership during a complex year in trade policy,” Freedman told the Deseret News. “Even amid escalating trade tensions ... Gov. Cox did a great job making clear that the state values those relationships.”
On immigration, Cox has changed his tone from articulating a balanced approach on immigration reform to supporting the administration’s chaotic crackdown on illegal immigration.
As street arrests by immigration authorities have spiked in Utah, Cox has asked the Trump administration for more resources, and has ordered state law enforcement to coordinate more closely with federal partners.
“Immigration as a national issue shifted in such a way that the ground beneath Cox’s feet moved,” Prof. Murray told the Deseret News. “I think the conversation moved, and I think Gov. Cox moved with it.”
The past year has seen Cox restrain his misgivings of the president and reiterate their “great relationship.” However, Cox has not shied away from their differences, saying he thinks Trump would be “more successful” if he adopted “the ‘Disagree Better’ mantra.”
Utah angles on national battles
Utah has become an unexpected player in the nationwide battle over control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Cox has been quick to distinguish Utah’s yearslong redistricting saga from the partisan maneuvers happening elsewhere.
Midcycle map-drawing in Texas and California to gerrymander congressional seats sets a bad precedent for electoral boundaries, Cox said in August. But Cox has made similar accusations toward a series of court rulings in Utah.
Cox’s criticisms of 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson’s ruling throwing out the state’s congressional map, and installing another with a deeply Democratic district, have aligned with conservative activists like Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka.
The conservative lobbying group has been pleased to see Cox support the appeal of Gibson’s ruling, Ruzicka said. Ruzicka also praised what she considers a shift on culture war issues, which Cox had previously taken a more moderate stance on.
“We were so disappointed that he was so supportive of the transgender issues that were harming children, and especially when he vetoed our sports bill,” Ruzicka told the Deseret News.
In 2022, Cox gained national attention for vetoing a ban on transgender students’ participation in girls sports. At an event in September, Cox signaled his solidarity with conservatives on the issue and framed his decision in terms of legal liability.
Cox has also backed away from his previous declarations of June as “Pride Month.” But he continues to look for “Utah Way” approaches, urging all Utahns to use the month to focus on “building bridges of understanding.”
Instead of signing, or vetoing, a bill this year that banned the display of most flags in classrooms and government grounds, Cox let it become law with a statement on the importance of finding a “helpful and hopeful compromise.”
But the topic on which Cox has been the most intentional about changing his tone in 2025 is that of religion, and the essential role it plays in Utah’s success, and in sustaining the soul of the nation amid economic, political and technological turmoil.
“We do need, I believe, a religious revival,” Cox told the Deseret News in May. “The truth is, we’re the most religious state in the country, and that absolutely matters.”