SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A few months ago, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox was one of the few prominent Republicans who consistently kept his distance from Donald Trump, whose brash style seemed the antithesis of a brand of politics Cox had carefully cultivated, one that focused on unity and respect.
Cox did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020 and told CNN in July that he would not vote for him this year either. The governor said the then-president’s role in inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol went too far.
A few days later, after an assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, Cox changed his mind.
Cox sent a letter to Trump explaining that his defiant response at the time of the shooting had prompted Cox to suddenly reconsider and change his position.
His turnaround surprised political observers who had watched Cox methodically build an image over the past decade as a moderate politician in the style of Mitt Romney, the Utah senator who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 and rose to become the state’s leader.
Cox, 49, said in his letter that he believed Trump could save the country “by emphasizing unity instead of hate.”
“You probably don’t like me that much,” Cox wrote. “But I want you to know that I promise you my support.”
Trump has not endorsed Cox for re-election.
The couple’s enigmatic relationship came back into the spotlight last week when they found themselves at the center of a controversy at Arlington National Cemetery. After Trump’s staff had a falling out with a cemetery official, Cox broke the rules — and likely federal law — by using a photo of Trump at his grave in a campaign fundraising email.
Federal law prohibits campaign or election activities at the military’s national cemeteries. Officials at Arlington said the rule was widely shared before Monday’s ceremony honoring 13 service members, including one from Utah, who were killed in an airfield bombing three years ago during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Cox’s campaign quickly apologized for politicizing the ceremony; Trump has insisted it had permission to film in a limited area. A TikTok video of the visit that Trump shared features scenes of him and Cox at the cemetery with a voiceover from the former president blaming the Biden administration for the “disaster” of the withdrawal.
The contrasting responses highlight the gulf between their political styles and raise new questions about why Cox chose to support Trump, who said after the assassination attempt that he had no plans to change his behavior.
“I’m sure he was there to support a family in Utah, and that’s a laudable goal, but by being there with Donald Trump, he got dragged into something that has ethical challenges,” said Chris Karpowitz, a political science professor at Brigham Young University. “He allowed himself to compromise his values, and he’s not the first politician to align himself with Donald Trump and find himself in that position.”
The sudden embrace by Cox, who is running for re-election in a race that is not expected to be close, has not gone down well with some moderate Utah voters he had struggled to win over.
Kyle Douglas of Orem said he lost confidence in Cox when the governor decided to support a presidential candidate who did not share his values.
“I was proud that my governor was still one of the good guys,” Douglas said. “It’s so disappointing to see him sell out.”
Lucy Wright from Provo expressed her disgust more bluntly.
“Trump is a big orange stain on his legacy,” she said.
Karpowitz said he, too, was surprised by Cox’s move, recalling that he thought the governor’s idea that Trump could be a unifying figure for the nation was “somewhat naive.” Like many in Utah, the professor said he struggled to understand why Cox thought supporting Trump would help the governor politically.
The decision jeopardizes Cox’s standing with his moderate voter base and likely does little to convince supporters of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, many of whom booed Cox at the state’s Republican Party convention this year.
It’s well known that aligning with Trump can boost the political profile of some Republicans, but the former president has not been that influential in Utah.
The state is a rare Republican stronghold that has halfheartedly embraced Trump, whose divisive rhetoric and comments about refugees and immigrants have rankled with many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. About half of Utah’s 3.4 million residents belong to the faith commonly known as the Mormon church.
Cox, a Latter-day Saint, said he believed God had a hand in saving Trump’s life, even calling it a miracle.
At the time of the July 13 shooting, President Joe Biden was clinging to his party’s nomination despite continued pressure from many Democrats to withdraw, fearing he would not be re-elected after his disastrous debate against Trump in June.
Cox wrote in his letter to Trump that he was not seeking a Cabinet position or a role on the team. However, the governor told The Atlantic that he had come to realize that he could not have greater influence within the party if he did not side with Trump.
Cox has not publicly stated a desire to run for national office, but he has worked to raise his profile outside of Utah by becoming chairman of the National Governors Association. His initiative as chairman, “Disagree Better,” focused on restoring civility to politics.
Trump’s endorsement came a month after Cox handily won the primary over ardent Trump supporter Phil Lyman, who made false claims of election fraud after the 2020 presidential election. Lyman has remained stubborn, encouraging his supporters to put his name on the November ballot rather than vote for Cox, who is expected to defeat his Democratic opponent even without the support of the state’s MAGA faction.
Cox is not the first moderate Republican, nor even the first from Utah, to move closer to Trump despite early opposition.
Romney was one of Trump’s fiercest critics in the 2016 election, calling him a fraud and a con man. But after Trump’s victory, Romney met the president for dinner to discuss a top diplomatic post in the Trump administration. He even praised Trump after the meeting, but he has since returned to being one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics.
