The National Governors Association says the annual bipartisan meeting of the nation’s governors at the White House will move forward next week after the White House reversed a previous decision to exclude Democrats from the event.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, says that’s “false” — and maintains that he’s blocking two Democratic governors from attending.
On Wednesday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who chairs the National Governors Association (NGA), informed all 55 governors of U.S. states and territories of their invitation to the meeting, according to a source familiar with the matter. The meeting will take place at its “original” time on the morning of Feb. 20, the source said, with the NGA set to “facilitate” the event.
“I am writing to inform you that President Donald J. Trump is inviting all governors of the 55 States and territories to the Friday, Feb. 20 NGA Business Breakfast at 8:30am est,” Stitt wrote Wednesday in a letter to fellow governors obtained by Scripps News.
“[Trump] was very clear in his communications with me that this is a National Governors Association’s event, and he looks forward to hosting you and hearing from governors across the country,” Stitt continued. “President Trump said this was always his intention, and we have addressed the misunderstanding in scheduling. I look forward to seeing each of you in Washington DC next week.”
Trump, meanwhile, wrote on Truth Social Wednesday afternoon that Stitt “incorrectly stated my position on the very exclusive Governors Annual Dinner and Meeting at the White House.”
“The invitations were sent to ALL Governors, other than two, who I feel are not worthy of being there,” Trump wrote — specifically singling out Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, NGA’s vice chairman, and Jared Polis of Colorado.
“The Invitations were sent out to all other Governors, Democrat and Republican. I look forward to seeing the Republican Governors, and some of the Democrats Governors who were worthy of being invited, but most of whom won’t show up,” Trump concluded.
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From Feb. 19-21, dozens of state leaders will travel to D.C. to participate in the NGA’s annual winter meeting. That visit has historically coincided with a bipartisan meeting of governors at the White House and as well as a separate black-tie dinner for the state leaders and their spouses.
Last week, however, reports emerged that President Donald Trump had opted not to invite any Democrats to the business meeting, and specifically sought to exclude Moore and Polis from the dinner. Trump in his Wednesday post disputed the idea that he sought to include all Democrats from the meeting, but confirmed his exclusion of Moore and Polis.
Moore, a possible 2028 Democratic contender for president, has often criticized the Trump administration, specifically the president’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to U.S. cities and the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
Polis, similarly, is a frequent critic of the president and has thus far resisted Trump’s repeated calls to pardon a former state elections official currently serving a nine-year prison sentence after being convicted of engaging in a security breach to advance a false conspiracy theory of election fraud — a fact highlighted by Trump in his Wednesday post.
Reacting to his snub on CNN over the weekend, Moore suggested his race may be a factor in the president’s decision to exclude him.
“It’s not lost on me that I’m the only Black governor in this country, and I find that to be particularly painful, considering the fact that the president is trying to exclude me from an organization that not only my peers have asked me to help to lead, but then also a place where I know I belong in,” Moore said.
On Tuesday, 18 Democratic governors issued a statement threatening to boycott the White House events unless all governors were invited.
“If the reports are true that not all governors are invited to these events, which have historically been productive and bipartisan opportunities for collaboration, we will not be attending the White House dinner this year,” the governors said.
Later that afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the decision not to extend the invitation to all state and territorial leaders.
“It is a dinner at the White House. It's the people's house. It's also the president's home, and so he can invite whomever he wants to dinners and events here at the White House,” Leavitt told reporters.
“I believe Governor Moore was invited last year, and he did not show up to the dinner last year,” she added. “The president has the discretion to invite whomever he wants to the White House, and he welcomes all those who received an invitation to come. And if they don't want to, that's their loss.”
Earlier Wednesday, ahead of Trump’s Truth Social post, NGA officials told Scripps News definitively that the business meeting was back on.
“We’re pleased the president will welcome governors from all 55 states and territories to the White House,” Brandon Tatum, NGA CEO, said in a statement. “The bipartisan White House governors meeting is a valued tradition and an important opportunity to build bridges and hold constructive conversations. The NGA looks forward to continued collaboration between governors and the White House.”
The decision to invite the bipartisan group to the business meeting came after “conversations” between Stitt and the White House, a source familiar with the situation told Scripps News.
On Wednesday afternoon, Stitt told reporters he spoke to Trump on the phone earlier in the day and relayed a message that “the president can invite whoever he wants to the White House.” Yet Stitt added that he told the president, “the NGA is not the right facilitator if it's going to be just not every single governor.”
As of Wednesday evening, NGA officials maintained their belief that the business meeting would still take place with all governors invited.
The White House, meanwhile, refused to say whether Democrats Trump signaled out would be disinvited from both the meeting and dinner, or just the dinner event. Officials did not respond to multiple inquiries about the situation.
Representatives for Stitt similarly did not respond to multiple queries about the event nor Trump’s criticism of the Oklahoma governor as a “RINO” — a Republican In Name Only.
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