OREM, Utah — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told ABC News’ This Week on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, that Americans are “desperate for something better” than hyper-partisanship, speaking with Martha Raddatz nearly one year after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at Utah Valley University, ABC News reported.

“70% of this country doesn’t like where we are right now,” Cox said, per ABC. “They’re tired of the hyper-partisanship. They’re tired of the contempt and they’re desperate for something better, something different.”

Kirk was killed during a public event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. Cox, who drew national attention for conciliatory rhetoric after the shooting, returned to the campus with Raddatz for the anniversary interview. “That’s a moment I can’t get out of my mind,” he said of learning of the killing. “I wish I could, but it just kind of overwhelmed everything.”

Cox’s book Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt is scheduled for release Tuesday. He frames it as a blueprint for de-escalating political tension. After the shooting he had warned, “We can return violence with violence. We can return hate with hate. At some point, we have to find an off-ramp or it’s going to get much, much worse.”

On social media’s role, Cox urged Americans to “get off of the algorithms, to get off of the screens,” saying he deleted Twitter from his phone last December and that “everything got better.” That critique lands on platform incentives that reward outrage — concentrated speech infrastructure shaping daily political temperature.

Asked about 2028 speculation, Cox pointed to the book’s opening line — “I’m not running for president. No, really.” — and told Raddatz he does not want the job. He said both parties face a “market failure” on toxicity and that “the party that figures out that Americans are tired of the toxicity will do very very well.”

Cox, who did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016 or 2020 but backed him in 2024, defended Trump’s funeral remark that he “hate[s]” his opponents as “very transparent” honesty, ABC reported.

Sources