Gov. Bill Lee highlights how he wants to foster better discourse

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is the chairman of the National Governors Association. Last July, he launched a series called Disagree Better, an initiative to try to figure out how American politics can become less polarized.

Cox brought the series to Nashville this week — with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee joining him on a panel.

Lee shared how he thinks politics in America could become more civil. He highlighted his strategy during his first campaign for governor back in 2020.

“I decided when I was going to run for office that I would not campaign negatively. I would not run a negative campaign ad. I would not say anything negative about anyone,” Lee said he told his staff.

Often in politics, there’s a lot of mudslinging. (That’s what it’s called when candidates run ads or say things that are disparaging about their opponent.)

“Even though, initially, there was a lot of conversation about how you have to do that to be in politics, I didn’t do it,” Lee said. “We don’t have to disparage other people in order to move ahead.”

Lee says social media contributes to some of the country’s divisiveness and toxicity, but adds that having face-to-face conversations with people can help bridge the divide.

He brought up that, during session, he had spoken to the mother of Tyre Nichols, RowVaughn Wells. The conversation was about Wells’ disagreement with HB 1391, a bill that prevents local governments from passing anything that would interfere with police stopping crime. The measure rolls back police reform passed in Memphis after the death of Tyre Nichols.

“She felt like that it was offensive. It was a slap in the face to what had happened in the city,” Lee said. “And I viewed that piece of legislation differently.”

More: Tennessee rolls back police reform passed after the death of Tyre Nichols

Lee said she gave him an earful, but kept it respectful.

“I’ve never had an encounter with anyone who disagreed so, you know, vehemently with me and wanted to express their passionate disagreement with me in such a respectful way.”

Lee said that type of dialogue is what’s needed in the country. He said the more we can “take the time to get to know someone who does not think like we do” the more “we can have an impact in the culture around us.”

Lee believes being able to have healthy dialogue across the country is dependent on making sure people can civilly disagree.