Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Tuesday confirmed he is writing a book about the “polarization” of the country, but says the effort doesn’t signal that he plans to run for president.
During his monthly news conference on Tuesday, Cox said the book will focus on political polarization, but he declined to provide many details about the project, including how much he stands to earn from Penguin Press. Cox listed the publishing house on his most recent financial disclosure form, noting he “has received $5,000 or more in income during the preceding year” from it.
“I’m hopeful that we’ll get this done,” Cox told reporters. “There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done, and writing a book is really hard, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
Prospective presidential candidates often test the waters by releasing a book in the run-up to a presidential election. While Cox has made a national brand through his work to “disagree better” and reject political polarization, the governor insists he is not vying for the Oval Office.
“This is not that. Let me make it very clear. Not running for president. Have no interest in running for president,” Cox said. “This is just something that is just so important to me. It’s something I believe in.”
Cox said he started working on the book two years ago in his “spare time,” which is also around the time he launched “Disagree Better” as chairman of the National Governors Association.
When asked what the book will be about, the governor said, “I don’t think it will surprise you that it’s about where we are as a country and just my concerns around the polarization that we’ve been seeing and how to do better at that.”
Utah’s governor made political unity a key point in his surprise 2004 endorsement of President Donald Trump, after years of resisting him. Cox told the then-presidential candidate he had the opportunity to “unify and save our country” after surviving an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
But this week, Cox told NPR he felt Trump had not taken the opportunity to unify the country, which he expanded on Tuesday during his news conference.
“He’s done some incredible things, some things I love and truly believe in, and that’s not been something that he’s prioritized,” Cox said. “That’s OK. This is something that’s important to me. I realize it’s not important to everybody, but I’m just going to keep sharing my message.”