The National Governors Association said Thursday that it is withdrawing from its annual meeting at the White House after President Donald Trump declined to invite Democratic governors Jared Polis of Colorado and Wes Moore of Maryland, a decision the NGA said undercut one of Washington’s few remaining cross-party gatherings. Trump, the reports said, still planned to meet with governors at the White House on Friday, but the NGA would not facilitate the session.
Govs. Polis and Moore both attended other events in Washington despite the invitation dispute. In a brief interview Thursday, Polis said he does not have “any ability to get in (Trump’s) head,” and he said he was nonetheless meeting with governors from both parties while he is in the nation’s capital. “I’ve spent quality time with my colleagues this morning and really learning from one another and taking best practices that Republican or Democratic governors have launched in their state,” Polis said. “It’s really what these meetings are about.”
The dispute also played out against a backdrop of Trump’s broader interactions with state leaders. The reports described the episode as reflecting a confrontational approach Trump has taken during his second term toward governors he does not like, including using threats involving federal funding and federal deployments. Even a ceremonial White House dinner, the reporting said, had become a flashpoint for some state officials and for Republicans who are concerned about the impact on national unity.
Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican from Utah, said at an event sponsored by Politico that Trump is not attempting to unify the country. “He’s not putting his mind to it,” Cox said. “He’s said very clearly that that’s not who he is.” At the same gathering, Cox criticized congressional inaction, saying Congress needs to “get their act together” and stop “performing for TikTok and actually start doing stuff. That’s the flaw we’re dealing with right now.” Cox also added that “it is up to the states to hold the line.”
Moore, the reports said, also pushed back on the idea of building a feud with the president. In an interview Wednesday, Moore said he has “no desire to have beef with the president of the United States.” He framed the president’s attention to him as something he felt sorry about rather than something he wanted to escalate, saying, “I didn’t run for governor like, man, I can’t wait so me and the president can go toe to toe,” and describing Trump’s behavior as “waking up in the middle of the night and tweeting about me,” which Moore said he believed must make the president’s existence “a really, really hard” one.
The standoff contrasted with the tone some governors had sought to project earlier in the week as they arrived for meetings and panels. Moore and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who chairs the NGA, shared a stage multiple times, swapping jokes and praise in a more cooperative setting. Stitt, in remarks Thursday at the Politico event, said he had gotten “a really good chance to know the heart of this man” through the NGA and described the president as someone who “loves his country” and “loves his citizens.”
But tensions intensified after Stitt tried to help resolve the dispute between the White House and the Democratic governors, according to the reports. Trump publicly blasted Stitt as “RINO,” short for Republican In Name Only, and accused him of misrepresenting his position after Stitt’s efforts. Stitt, while still expressing conciliation, said he would take part in White House events and described politics as wearing people down over time; “Politics has a way of just beating you down over time so I can’t imagine being president of the United States,” Stitt said. “He’s got a tough job to do.”
Other governors also weighed in. Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who has sometimes disagreed with Trump, called the exclusion of governors a “mistake.” Hogan said the annual NGA gathering had “never” been about producing large amounts of work, but it was “a nice thing” for Republicans and Democrats to come together each year and that it could not hurt to be in the same room even amid friction.
As governors moved through panels and media interviews, the reporting said another question hovered over the conference: which officials might pursue the presidency in 2028. Moore and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania were described as among the potential Democratic presidential contenders seen in Washington, while other Democrats—including Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois—were said not to be in town. During a panel discussion, Stitt and Moore declined to rule out future bids and said they were focused on their home states.
Gov. Andy Beshear, of Kentucky, took a more open approach in the reporting described at a Center for American Progress event. The reports said he arrived in Washington days after announcing he would release a book this fall and answered questions about how he might campaign for president if he enters the race. Asked afterward about his timeline for a decision, Beshear said his focus this year remains on Kentucky and that “then after that, I’ll sit down with my family and we’ll consider it.”