‘Our nation is broken,’ Utah Gov. Cox says of Charlie Kirk assassination

Gov. Spencer Cox talks to media after conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Hours after conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, a morose Utah Gov. Spencer Cox took the podium at a news conference alongside state and federal law enforcement officials. 

Cox — a Republican who has devoted a large part of his political career trying to encourage bipartisanship in an increasingly politically polarized world — did more than condemn Kirk’s killing, calling it a “political assassination.” 

“This is a dark day for our state,” the governor said. “It’s a tragic day for our nation.”

Though Cox has tried to combat polarization in favor of civil discourse through his Disagree Better campaign, his home state made worldwide headlines for the very thing he’s tried to discourage. Politico’s headline put it this way: “Utah is now the epicenter of the political divide its governor warned about.” 

While speaking about Kirk’s killing on Wednesday, Cox made another plea. He urged Utahns and Americans to look at the bigger picture of increased political violence happening across the country — and also look inward. 

“Our nation is broken,” he said. 

Cox pointed to the assassination of Minnesota House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, the firebombing of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home that prosecutors say was attempted murder, and attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

“Nothing I say can unite us as a country. Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken,” he said. “Nothing I can say can bring back Charlie Kirk. Our hearts are broken.” 

As Cox gave his solemn speech, state public safety and FBI officials were hunting for the suspected shooter, who as of Thursday had still not been found. 

“Charlie Kirk was, first and foremost, a husband and a dad to two young children,” Cox said. “We mourn with his wife, his children, his families, his friends. We mourn as a nation.” 

Kirk was also founder of Turning Point USA, an organization that advocates for conservative politics in educational institutions, and a close ally of President Donald Trump. He was a widely known and often polarizing internet personality. 

That political involvement brought Kirk to Utah Valley University, one of the many college campuses across the U.S. where Kirk engaged students and members of the public in political debate with his signature “prove me wrong” events. But UVU was his last. 

An estimated 3,000 people attended Wednesday’s event. After the single gunshot rang out and Kirk collapsed from a bullet to his neck, students scattered, screaming in horror.  It was a moment that hundreds of students witnessed firsthand and now millions more around the world are viewing in viral, graphic videos that continue to spread on social media.

Cox lamented that university campuses are supposed to be places for students to learn and grow, not places where students fear for their safety. 

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“Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate, to shape ideas and to persuade people,” the governor said. “Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah, have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated. And that’s what he does. He comes on college campuses and he debates.” 

Free speech and debate are “foundational to the formation of our country, to our most basic constitutional rights,” Cox said. “And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened.”

As of Thursday morning, law enforcement officials had not released any information about the shooter’s motive and the investigation is ongoing. 

“I want to make it crystal clear right now, to whoever did this, we will find you. We will try you. And we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law,” Cox said. “And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.”

Cox also condemned anyone who may have reacted to Kirk’s killing with any level of celebration. 

“If anyone, in the sound of my voice, celebrated even a little bit at the news of the shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror,” Cox said, “and see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere.” 

The governor said he didn’t care what Kirk’s politics were — “I care that he was an American.” 

“We just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be. To ask ourselves, is this it? Is this what 250 years has brought on us? I pray that that’s not the case,” he said, pointing to the upcoming anniversary of the nation’s founding. 

Cox said he also prayed that “those who hated what Charlie Kirk stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family.” 

“And that all of us — all of us — will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans,” Cox said.

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