Utah Sen. John Curtis is teaming up with Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly to urge Americans to have productive conversations with their neighbors, even those who have vastly different political views.
In a new video public service announcement released on Wednesday, the bipartisan pair of senators urged voters to get off the internet — which they say sows division and hatred — and engage in real conversations with those around them. The video was produced by Disagree Better, an independent nonprofit organization founded by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox that promotes healthy disagreement.
“Healthy disagreement is a strength in a democracy,” Curtis said. “When we focus more on understanding than winning an argument, we build trust and find common ground — even when we don’t see eye to eye.”
The pair stood side by side for the one-minute video as they highlighted recent polling that shows a majority of Americans (83%) want to reduce political divisiveness while another 71% say Americans likely have more in common than they think.
“Americans don’t have to agree on everything to treat each other with respect,” Kelly said. “We can stand firm in our beliefs, listen to one another, and remember that we’re all on the same team when it comes to our country’s future.”
This isn’t the first time Curtis and Kelly have teamed up. The pair appeared together for a Disagree Better event at Utah Valley University last year to confront the nation’s epidemic of political violence after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The two also co-introduced a bill to hold social media companies liable for promoting content that is responsible for radicalizing users and prompting them to cause harm.
“What began as a commonsense protection for a fledgling industry has grown into a blanket immunity shield for some of the most powerful companies on the planet — companies that intentionally design algorithms that exploit user behavior, amplify dangerous content, and keep people online at any cost,” Curtis said in November when he introduced the bill. “Our bill will hold them accountable.”
The PSA also comes as Congress has been bitterly divided over the last year, often stalling bipartisan pieces of legislation and resulting in mostly partisan bills making their way to President Donald Trump’s desk. Those disagreements have also led to a number of government shutdowns due to partisan spending fights, resulting in two different record-long funding lapses.