Governor Spencer Cox is stepping into a prominent new national role.

On Friday, he was named chair of the National Governors Association, with Democratic Colorado Governor Jared Polis as the vice-chair.

With his new role leading the association made up of the nation’s governors, Gov. Cox is also launching a new initiative that seeks to turn down the political heat.

“Our country is in trouble,” Cox said in an interview with Utah reporters ahead of the initiative’s launch. “We can’t solve the biggest issues if we can’t even have a conversation.”

The governor is pushing for people to “disagree better.”

“We actually have to be in the room together. That’s not just politicians, that’s families,” he said. “It’s all of us. It’s being able to have these really, really critical conversations without hating each other.”

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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.