Two US governors — a Democrat and a Republican — on why there's hope for democracy | Matt Meyer and J. Kevin Stitt

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

Two current US governors — Democrat Matt Meyer of Delaware and Republican J. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma — trade notes on how to rebuild trust without partisan theater. In this special segment of "On the Spot" (TED's rapid-fire Q&A format), they share thoughts on leading when people live in different realities, swapping outrage for outcomes and why we need to govern like neighbors, not enemies.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.
0:12.0	I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Here at TED, we believe in the power of ideas to bring people together
0:17.3	and to build bridges across political divides. So at the second-ever TED Next conference in Atlanta, we invited Democratic Governor of Delaware,
0:26.4	Matt Meyer, and Republican governor of Oklahoma, J. Kevin Stitt, to ask each other a series of
0:32.4	questions. It offers a rare glimpse at what productive disagreement could look like and the moments when we realize we have more in common than we think.
0:44.2	All right, first question.
0:49.4	Good morning, everyone.
0:50.8	Good morning.
0:51.7	It's great to be in this hall.
0:53.2	It's about the size of Delaware.
1:00.0	What can Democratic and Republican governors do together to restore trust in government? Well, thank you for that.
1:02.0	You know, I think, first off, that trust in the federal government, our founding fathers never
1:08.0	envision the federal government to dominate every single part of our lives.
1:13.3	They thought about this idea of federalism, that the states are closer to the people,
1:18.6	that the states know how to educate our kids, we're focused on education, we're focused on
1:25.9	infrastructure, we're focused on the economy and health care. And when you have a one-size-fits-all, it is a problem. And so we know that Delaware is different than Oklahoma. Our founding fathers knew that New Hampshire was different than Virginia. And I think if we get back to states' rights and having the states, this 50 laboratories of democracy,
1:47.2	I think we're going to be much better off than a top-down approach.
1:51.5	Other countries were a little bit different, where the federal government created these subdivisions,
1:56.7	but it wasn't that way in the U.S.
1:58.3	The states created the federal government.
2:00.5	Congress has about a 15% approval rating right now,
2:04.6	and states are where it's at.
	...

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