political civility

Utah State University in Logan was on Charlie Kirk’s itinerary after he started his tour at Utah Valley University. Here’s what students had to say about Gov. Spencer Cox’s call to rein in political violence.

“This is everywhere. Every community, every town, every state,” one of the suspect’s neighbors said. “It's going to be everybody's neighbor, everybody's classmate. It's not at all unusual anymore.”

Cox spoke Friday at a news conference announcing the arrest of the suspect in Charlie Kirk's assassination. Cox said this is a moment to make a choice: escalate or "find an off-ramp.”

“I think there's going to be a lot of soul searching on the part of people in politics in Utah, community leaders and campus leaders,” said Utah State political scientist Damon Cann.

Colleagues have grown accustomed to Lee’s online persona, mostly brushing it off. That is, until this past week, after his posts about the killing of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband incensed fellow senators.

House GOP leadership said it’s “on all of us” to bring down the temperature following shootings at a protest in Salt Lake City and politically-motivated attacks in Minnesota.

“The public really loves this idea of getting extremism out of politics,” said party chair Michelle Quist. “The public loves the idea of collaborating on political solutions. They can see the nastiness in politics, and they don't like it.”

"I will leave this chamber with a sense of achievement," Romney said. "But in truth, I also will leave with the recognition that I did not achieve everything I had hoped."

Donald Trump improved his election 2024 margins nationwide from 2020, but not in Utah. It could be a sign that the Republican president-elect has hit his ceiling in the Beehive State.

"I consider it almost a sacred civic responsibility of teaching someone about the importance of elections,” said West Jordan Middle School teacher William Shields.

Despite making up over 25% of Utah’s voting-age population, only 12% of the state’s voters were under 30 in 2022.

As both presidential campaigns have stepped up efforts to win over religious voters in Arizona and Nevada, Dallin H. Oaks encouraged congregants at the faith’s twice-annual general conference to steer clear of contention and be peacemakers in their communities one month out from the Nov. 5 election.