Two Southwest governors emphasize bipartisanship at Reagan Library

It pays to be both bipartisan and persistent, according to a Democratic governor who once sneaked into the White House in the back of U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer’s car.

“I was rolled back there like a burrito,” said New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who was then a member of the House. Lujan Grisham, the chair of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, was determined to be part of a West Wing meeting for which she wasn’t invited.

“But it’s in my character to be assertive and find another way to get attention,” Lujan Grisham told an audience of several hundred people Monday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. She shared the stage with Republican Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah during a Common Ground Forum in Simi Valley, a city north of Los Angeles.

As they shared the stage, the governors emphasized the importance of building relationships with people in the other party as they answered questions from Steve Hayes, CEO and editor of The Dispatch, a news website.

“We like to say that potholes aren’t partisan,” Cox told Hayes as Lujan Grisham listened.

Cox also noted that political party affiliation used to be lower on the list of the ways people identified themselves. “We’re moms, dads, Utahans firsts,” the Utah governor said. “Describing ourselves as Republicans or Democrats would have been 10th or 15th on the list.”

“If at all,” Lujan Grisham interjected.

“If at all,” Cox agreed. “Now it’s routinely No. 1 or No. 2.”

Cox also stressed there shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach to the 50 states, which he described as “laboratories of democracy.” States differ greatly from each other, he said, but added governors can learn from each other, regardless of their political affiliation.

“When Gov. Lujan Grisham does something in her state that works, I’m going to steal that idea,” Cox said.

“While most Americans have a terrible view of the president and Congress, most of them like their governors because we get stuff done,” he added.

Lujan Grisham, who served in the U.S. House from 2013 to 2018 before being elected governor, explained what she had to do to get a Republican colleague, U.S. Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, to support her effort to get more money for Alzheimer’s. She brought food to his office.

Every day.

Until he gave in.

“He said that if I were to stop bringing him food and stopped being in his chair in his office when he arrived every morning, he would fund whatever, excuse my language, 'whatever the hell' I wanted,” she said.

The audience laughed as Lujan Grisham used the story to illustrate the importance of creating relationships.

In fact, people from opposing parties can disagree with each other without being disagreeable, Lujan Grisham said.

“You can be firm in your intentions as long as you leave a little bit of room to be persuaded for a different design,” she said. “Typically, most people want to get to the same place.”

As governor, Lujan Grisham said she works with the leaders of 22 sovereign Native American tribes, a higher number than any other state.

“And they’re equal. So there are a lot of governors in New Mexico,” Lujan Grisham said.

She added she’s proud of what her state has achieved during her administration.

“In two years, we went from 50th in childhood poverty to 17th,” she said, then pivoted to how New Mexico helps California by exporting electricity.

“Your lights are on because New Mexico powers L.A. County,” Lujan Grisham said. (Simi Valley is actually in Ventura County, but it's a short distance from Los Angeles.)

Cox immediately chimed in, “By the way, Utah also powers L.A. County.”