Current:Home > ContactBiden and Utah’s governor call for less bitterness and more bipartisanship in the nation’s politics -GrowthSphere Strategies
Biden and Utah’s governor call for less bitterness and more bipartisanship in the nation’s politics
View
Date:2025-04-23 03:00:44
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox disagree on many issues but they were united Saturday in calling for less bitterness in politics and more bipartisanship.
“Politics has gotten too personally bitter,” said Biden, who has practiced politics since he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972. “It’s just not like it was.” The Democratic president commented while delivering a toast to the nation’s governors and their spouses at a black-tie White House dinner in their honor.
Cox, a Republican and chairman of the National Governors Association, preceded Biden to the lectern beneath an imposing portrait of Abraham Lincoln above the fireplace in the State Dining Room.
The Utah governor said the association “harkens back to another time, another era, when we did work together across partisan lines, when there was no political danger in appearing with someone from the other side of the aisle and we have to keep this, we have to maintain this, we cannot lose this,” he said.
Cox had joked earlier that he and Biden might be committing “mutually assured destruction” by appearing together at the White House since they’re both up for reelection this year.
He said that as state chief executives, the governors “know just a very little bit of the incredible burden that weighs on your shoulders. We can’t imagine what it must be like, the decisions that you have to make, but we feel a small modicum of that pressure and so, tonight, we honor you.”
Biden said he remembered when lawmakers would argue by day and break bread together at night. He is currently embroiled in stalemates with the Republican-controlled House over immigration policy, government funding and aid for Ukraine and Israel.
Cox went on to say that his parents taught him to pray for the leader of the country.
“Mr. President, I want you to know that our family prays for you and your family every night,” he said. “We pray that you will be successful because if you are successful that means that United States of America is successful and tonight we are always Americans first, so thank you.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat who is the association’s vice chairman, also offered a toast.
“We have a lot more in common and a lot more that brings us together as Americans for love of country and love of the people of our country,” he said.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, were among Cabinet secretaries and White House officials who sat among the governors. The group included North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who in December ended his bid to become the Republican presidential nominee and challenge Biden.
Guests dined on house-made burrata cheese, an entree choice of beef braciole or cod almandine and lemon meringue tart with limoncello ice cream for dessert.
After-dinner entertainment was also part of the program.
The governors heard from Biden and Harris on Friday during a separate session at the White House.
veryGood! (4)
Related
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- RHOBH's Kyle Richards Reveals If She Keeps in Touch With Lisa Rinna
- 15 Affordable Amazon Products You Need If The Microwave Is Basically Your Sous-Chef
- Searching For A New Life
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Love Is Blind's Paul Peden Accuses Vanessa Lachey of Having Personal Bias at Reunion
- Maya Lin doesn't like the spotlight — but the Smithsonian is shining a light on her
- The activist who threw soup on a van Gogh says it's the planet that's being destroyed
- Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
- 'It could just sweep us away': This school is on the front lines of climate change
Ranking
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- A U.N. biodiversity convention aims to slow humanity's 'war with nature'
- Ariana Madix's New Man Shares PDA-Filled Video From Their Romantic Coachella Weekend
- 5 numbers that show Hurricane Fiona's devastating impact on Puerto Rico
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
- Taurus Shoppable Horoscope: 11 Birthday Gifts Every Stylish, Stubborn & Sleepy Taurus Will Love
- Snow blankets Los Angeles area in rare heavy storm
- Puerto Rico has lost more than power. The vast majority of people have no clean water
Recommendation
'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
Sophia Culpo Shares Her Worst Breakup Story One Month After Braxton Berrios Split
Victoria Justice Sets Record Straight on Claim She's Jealous of Ariana Grande
How to help people in Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Fiona
Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
Climate protesters throw soup on Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' painting in London
Survivor’s Keith Nale Dead at 62 After Cancer Battle
You'll Be Soaring After Learning Zac Efron Just Followed Ex-Girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens on Instagram