President Trump said Wednesday that almost all governors are welcome at the White House for a formal meeting and dinner next week, although the Democratic governors of Maryland and Colorado are still being excluded.
The White House was will initially rule out Democratic governors from a formal, typically bipartisan business meeting on February 20 during the National Governors Association (NGA) annual conference, according to the NGA and a source familiar with White House planning.
And two Democratic governors, Wes Moore of Maryland and Jared Polis of Colorado, said they were informed by the NGA last Friday that they will not be invited to a separate dinner at the White House on February 21 with the president, governors and their spouses.
But after talks between the White House and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who heads the NGA, the organization and the president said Wednesday that governors from both parties are invited to both the meeting and the dinner. Democratic governors began receiving invitations on Wednesday evening to the business meeting, although the NGA has not received updates on the White House dinner.
Governor Stitt informed the governors of all 55 states and territories on Wednesday that they are all invited to the formal meeting on February 20th.
“He has been very clear in his communications with me that this is a National Governors Association event, and he looks forward to hosting you and hearing from governors across the country. President Trump said this was always his intention, and we have addressed the scheduling misunderstanding,” Stitt wrote in a message to the governors obtained by CBS News.
In a Truth Social post Wednesday afternoon after Stitt’s message was sent, Mr. Trump wrote that Moore and Polis are still excluded. He suggested that there was a misunderstanding between him and Stitt.
“Invitations have been sent to ALL but two Governors who I feel are not worthy of being there,” Trump wrote, adding that he “even invited” two of his political enemies, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom. “So, as usual with him, Stitt got it wrong! Invitations were sent to all the other Governors, Democrat and Republican.”
Moore still received an invitation on Wednesday to the formal meeting, according to a source familiar with the matter.
It is not clear if Polis received an invitation to that meeting as well. A spokesman for the governor of Colorado said “regardless of which events Colorado is or is not invited to, Governor Polis will continue to focus on working with his fellow governors and anyone who wants to help make people’s lives better.” CBS News reached out to the White House.
The NGA said it was informed by the White House on February 5 that only Republican governors would be invited to the formal business meeting. Due to these exclusions, the NGA said the next day that it will not facilitate that meeting or put it in the group’s official schedule. Stitt reiterated that in a letter to governors on Monday, defending Moore as an “exceptional vice president” for the NGA.
After reports of Democratic governors being excluded from the meeting, nearly every Democratic governor issued a joint statement Tuesday indicating they would not attend any White House events, including the dinner, in solidarity with Moore and Polis.
In his Wednesday post, Mr. Trump cited a disagreement over the imprisonment of former Colorado county election clerk Tina Peters as the reason for not inviting Polis. The president pushed Polis for months to grant clemency to Peters, which he is serves a sentence of nine years on multiple state charges related to unauthorized access to voting machines.
And Mr Trump called Moore “foul mouthed” and claimed he was flattered when receiving military medals, although Moore said he was “honest mistake” on an application for a White House fellowship in 2006. Since then he has received a Bronze Star for his deployment to Afghanistan.
The president also criticized Stitt, calling him a “RINO,” or Republican in name only. Stitt had supported Mr Trump’s former opponent, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, during the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.
Moore called the decision not to invite “another example of blatant disrespect and a snub to the spirit of bipartisan federal-state partnership” in statement earlier this week.
A Polis spokesman called it “a disappointing decision for a traditionally bipartisan event between Governors and whoever occupies the White House.”
Governors from both parties attended a White House meeting and dinner during last year’s conference. The meeting drew attention to a verbal spat between Mr Trump and Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills, in which the president pressed Mills on the issue of transgender women in sports, to which Mills replied: “See you in court.”
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