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EXCLUSIVE: During a time of surging political polarization across the country, Bill McBride, who is retiring from his role as executive director of the National Governors Association, gave an insider’s perspective on how the bulwark of bipartisan cooperation operates to solve national crises.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, McBride discussed his role working with both Republican and Democratic governors to lead the 117-year-old organization through some of the most tumultuous periods in recent U.S. history, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under his leadership, the NGA achieved record participation from all 50 states and the five inhabited U.S. territories. He has led the NGA alongside four different governors who served as chairmen: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat; Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican; Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat; and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican. He has advanced several bipartisan policy initiatives that have had a national impact.
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He explained that while politicians in Congress can get mired in political games – as evidenced by the government shutdown – governors are under tremendous pressure to get things done. The pressure to perform often helps them to focus on solutions rather than politics.
“Executives have to produce, and you have to make rapid decisions, because if you don’t, things just don’t get done.”
According to McBride, the NGA has thrived in some of the most difficult circumstances. He said that the pandemic was a real turning point for bringing governors of both parties to the table to discuss difficult problems. During that time, the NGA convened governors weekly to coordinate strategy, share data, and engage directly with federal agencies.
“I think we did something like 67 weeks of those calls. And we get 40 to 45 governors on those calls. And looking back on it, we covered everything. You know, it started with what is the pandemic? You know what caused this virus? Then we talked about vaccines and getting vaccines and testing equipment and supplies and just all the challenges that the governors were facing,” he said. “It really brought the group very close together. And it wasn’t just the weekly calls we were having, because then they started calling each other individually and trading information. So, it was a huge resource for the governors.”
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McBride lamented that this type of bipartisanship has become increasingly rare outside of groups like the NGA.
“I think we’ve gotten to a point where people are locked in different camps and they’re not willing to reach across the aisle and to talk to somebody else, because maybe out of fear, maybe out stubbornness, but I think you can actually learn a lot from reaching across the aisle and getting different opinions from different people before you form your own opinions,” he explained.
The NGA was founded as the Conference of Governors in 1908 at the call of President Theodore Roosevelt. McBride explained that by staying out of politics, the NGA has been able to keep its focus on helping governors find practical policy solutions to problems that every state experiences.
“Governors are executives and have to get things done,” he explained. “We deal with everything from energy, education, infrastructure, homeland security, cyber security. I could go on and on. And we have teams that work on those policy issues and work with governors’ offices to help them create policy solutions.”
“We’re really a policy-driven organization, but another thing that’s very important is we’re bipartisan, we’re not a political organization. We don’t get involved in political campaigns,” he went on.
“I have found it fascinating in the time that I’ve been here, when you see the governors together from both political parties, how they get along with each other,” he noted. “Granted, they have philosophical differences on things, but they’re all executives running states facing similar problems, and they learn from each other, and they spend time with each other and share ideas.”
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He likened the NGA’s mission to an initiative launched by Cox when he was chair called “Disagree Better.” He shared that he believes this initiative helped prepare Cox to respond so well to the shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.
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“Disagree Better was modeled on the idea that we can disagree with each other, but we don’t have to hate each other,” he said. “Governor Cox did a tremendous job on that, and I have to say, I think it really helped prepare him for the situation he encountered in Utah with the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
“We have seen Governor Cox step up to the moment and talk about this issue of how we can disagree with each other, but we don’t have to resort to violence,” he said. “Governors can take a lead on that, and I think they have.”
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