Local leaders play a crucial role in shaping policy and fostering community, which involves working alongside constituents or other local leaders with differing political views. Encouraging productive dialogue to reduce political contention along party lines can be an effective strategy to improve the quality and civility of public discourse. In a survey of local officials, 57 percent said that political polarization of their constituents is a consideration when planning communications. Additionally, nearly a third of respondents said polarization is impacting relationships between constituents, between constituents and elected leaders and between elected officials. The current partisan landscape requires local leaders to think critically of how to bridge disagreements to continue to build social cohesion.
Arizona Mayors Leading on Civic Discourse
In Arizona, former Mesa Mayor John Giles and Tempe Mayor Corey Woods are working across party lines to foster constructive public dialogue. In their efforts to create a less polarized local political environment, they launched Disagree Better Arizona, a replicable state bipartisan initiative modeled after the National Governors Association’s Disagree Better Campaign.
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Mayor Woods observed heightened polarization across the country. Even though their local elections are nonpartisan and historically avoided partisanship during local races, national issues and partisanship started showing up in local elections. As a registered Democrat, he asked registered Republican Mayor Giles from neighboring Mesa to start Disagree Better Arizona to set a model for healthy disagreement.
“We saw a scheduled train wreck on the horizon, especially because Arizona is a battleground state and a lot of national attention, outside money, and outside people were coming into our communities,” Giles said.
The Disagree Better Arizona initiative includes a toolkit to help navigate tense discussions with family, online and in the community. The toolkit has informational videos, podcasts, resources and volunteer opportunities. The Arizona initiative also holds events across the Phoenix metro area promoting civic discourse.
Through the Disagree Better Arizona campaign, the mayors hope to create a more civil environment in politics. Mayor Woods said he is seeing fewer people willing to run for local office and join the municipal workforce after seeing incivility and harassment in public meetings. He hopes through this campaign they can create an environment of healthy civic discourse and encourage future generations to serve in local government. Former Mayor Giles hopes that local leaders and community members alike recognize the need to work together and not be dismissive of differing political views.
Both mayors have seen a positive reaction from the community. Residents have a desire to discuss policy issues and get things done, even if they disagree politically. Mayor Woods said the campaign “has been met with a lot of fanfare.”
Former Mayor Giles and Mayor Woods have improved their leadership skills by taking lessons from Disagree Better Arizona. Former Mayor Giles is leaning on empathy and asking questions about political positions. For him, it’s important to remember that people who disagree with him are “passionate about their cause and still love their community.” Mayor Woods has learned key lessons on managing public comments during public meetings using strategies from the campaign. He encourages more participation during public comment periods by following up on open comments after public meetings instead of going back and forth during the meeting.
“I try to encourage more participation and make public comment more comfortable for residents that don’t typically participate,” said Mayor Woods.
The mayors recommend other local leaders adopt the Disagree Better campaign for their city, state or region to model and promote discourse in their communities. They outline four steps to do so:
- Identify that civil discourse is an issue that needs to be addressed in your community.
- Model the behavior that you want to see and hear with those that disagree with you.
- Consider partnering with existing organizations, like Braver Angels, that are working to improve partisan divides and civic discourse.
- Partner with other local leaders from across the aisle in your city, state or region to implement a Disagree Better campaign to show that you don’t have to agree with everyone on every issue to live and work together.
“Steal this idea from us. One of the things we love to do in local government is steal good ideas,” Mayor Giles said. “There are a lot of people that we should love, live and work with that are going to see things differently than we do and that is okay. Remind people that we’re all in this in a good faith way and we all love our cities and country.”
To learn more about civility, check out other NLC resources Civic Discourse 101 and Innovative Approaches to Civic Engagement.
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