The governor's race is on the ballot in Utah this year. Despite the vitriol commonly seen spewing between candidates in races across the country, the two major-party candidates here, Republican Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox and Democratic challenger Chris Peterson have linked arms for an unconventional campaign ad, displaying a united front.
The promotion provides a look at civil discourse between two opposing candidates and the ideas they share on how to move the state forward. The candidates both agree that, through the commercial, Americans can see that those with opposing views can still tackle the toughest problems without being disrespectful toward one another.
“It really is the foundation of our country and these democratic principles that we hold so dear," Cox told Cheddar. "For 240 years we’ve been figuring out ways to get along, even when we disagree; and it just feels, in the current climate, like it’s more important than ever that we remind people that we are Americans first.”
While civility between politicians is not at the level it had been in some previous years, these candidates hope to inspire other lawmakers nationwide to take a more active approach to restore it in politics.
For Peterson, the divisive path America has traveled down is a threat to democracy.
“I worry that we're losing sight of the fact that we’re all one nation and not separate political tribes,” he said.
Spencer is calling on Americans to practice the same civility they expect from elected officials.
“That means being more civil on Facebook, on Twitter. Not surrounding ourselves with voices like ours. Not degrading and demeaning the other side but really trying to listen to learn and listen to understand,” Cox said.
The pair’s unconventional method of reaching the voters in Utah has even opened up the possibility of the two working together once a winner is declared — the results both have agreed to accept once announced.
Federal health advisers voted overwhelmingly against an experimental treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease at a Wednesday meeting prompted by years of patient efforts seeking access to the unproven therapy.
Lawmakers probing the cause of last month’s deadly Maui wildfire did not get many answers during Thursday's congressional hearing on the role the electrical grid played in the disaster.
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that federal disaster assistance is available for Louisiana, which is working to slow a mass inflow of salt water creeping up the Mississippi River and threatening drinking water supplies in the southern part of the state.
A new law in California will raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour next year, an acknowledgment from the state's Democratic leaders that most of the often overlooked workforce are the primary earners for their low-income households.
From Sunday, workers at the main United States base in Antarctica will no longer be able to walk into a bar and order a beer, after the U.S. federal agency that oversees the research program decided to stop serving alcohol.
House Republicans launched a formal impeachment hearing Thursday against President Joe Biden, promising to “provide accountability” as they probe the family finances and business dealings of his son Hunter and make their case to the public, colleagues and a skeptical Senate.
The FBI and other government agencies should be required to get court approval before reviewing the communications of U.S. citizens collected through a secretive foreign surveillance program, a sharply divided privacy oversight board recommended on Thursday.
The federal government is just days away from a shutdown that will disrupt many services, squeeze workers and roil politics as Republicans in the House, fueled by hard-right demands, force a confrontation over federal spending.
