As the newly elected chair of the National Governors Association, Gov. Spencer Cox announced details of his “Disagree Better” policy initiative on July 14 at the closing session of NGA’s annual summer gathering in Atlantic City, NJ (Image courtesy of Facebook).
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – The leaders of 55 states, territories and commonwealths gathered and elected Utah Gov. Spencer Cox as chair of the National Governors Association (NGA).
Cox will serve in the role for one year. At the closing session to the NGA summer meeting, Cox announced his initiative for 2023-24 – dubbed “Disagree Better: Healthy Conflict for Better Policy.”
“There’s an ‘exhausted majority’ of Americans out there who are discouraged by the ugliness of our politics today,” Cox explained. “The divisiveness undermines our success as a nation and hurts our relationships with friends and family. We don’t all have to agree on every issue, but we have to find a way to disagree better.”
Cox’s initiative is designed to help Americans bridge the partisan divide and adopt a more positive approach to political and social discourse. Through public debates, service projects, public service announcements and a variety of other tools, he said governors are joining forces for the “Disagree Better” initiative.
Founded in 1908, the National Governors Association (NGA) is the voice of the nation’s governors and one of the most respected public policy organizations in the country. Members come to the association from across the political spectrum, but NGA itself is bipartisan.
“Governors work together across party lines everyday,” Cox observed. “We have a unique opportunity and obligation to demonstrate how to find solutions and solve problems instead of endlessly bickering.
“My fellow governors from both red and blue states are ready to lead toward a more positive and optimistic way of working through our problems.”
Cox is replacing Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat who served as chair of the NGA in the past year.
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado will serve as Cox’s vice chair for the next 12 months.
Seven governors were also elected to serve on the NGA executive committee. They include Murphy and governors Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Kathy Hocul of New York, Eric Holcomb of Indiana, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire.
Following Cox’s announcement, Vice Chair Polis indicated that he fully supports the “Disagree Better” initiative.
“We can disagree without attacking each other,” Polis argued. “With extreme partisanship grinding progress to a halt in Washington, it is more important than ever that governors be the adults in the room and remind Americans that it’s possible to work together and achieve good results.”
In addition to the changes to the membership of its Executive Committee, the governors announced new leadership for their national task forces.
The new chair and vice chair of the Economic Development and Revitalization task force are Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina.
The new chair and vice chair of the Education, Workforce and Community Investment task force are Gov. Brad Little of Idaho and Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. of the U,S, Virgin Islands.
The new chair and vice chair of the Public Health and Disaster Response task force are Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii and Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont.
Those task forces foster a collaborative environment for governors to focus on NGA’s top federal priorities.
Detail of the new NGA initiative can be found under “Disagree Better” at https://nag.org