Trump, 79, Upends Decades of Tradition to Take Petty Swipe
The president will only meet with Republicans at the upcoming National Governors Association meeting.
The president is avoiding his critics by not inviting them to a traditionally bipartisan event.
During the National Governors Association meeting later this month, President Donald Trump, 79, will only convene with Republican governors, state leaders learned on Friday. The move breaks from decades of meetings between the president and governors across the aisle. It also undermines the NGA’s stated goal of bipartisanship.
The NGA meeting is scheduled for the weekend of Feb. 19 in Washington, D.C. The change to the invitation list comes after a series of public sparring matches with Democratic governors, including California’s Gavin Newsom and Minnesota’s Tim Walz.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump host the National Governors Association Evening Dinner and Reception in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Getty Images
Brandon Tatum, acting Executive Director and CEO of the NGA, said that the organization was “disappointed in the administration’s decision to make it a partisan occasion this year.”
“To disinvite individual governors to the White House sessions undermines an important opportunity for federal-state collaboration,” Tatum said in a statement to the Daily Beast.
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“At this moment in our nation’s history, it is critical that institutions continue to stand for unity, dignity, and constructive engagement,” Tatum continued. “NGA will remain focused on serving all governors as they deliver solutions and model leadership for the American people. Traditionally the White House has played a role in fostering these moments during NGA’s annual meeting. This year, they will not.”
Trump walks on stage to address a meeting of the Republican Governors Association in 2025.
Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images
An email obtained by Politico, sent by the NGA on Friday, revealed that the White House meeting will no longer be an association event. “No NGA resources will be used to support transportation for this activity,” the email said.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) challenges U.S. President Donald Trump over trans women in sports as Trump addresses a meeting of governors at the White House on Feb. 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Trump’s decision to shut out Democrats comes after confrontation at last year’s event. In 2025, tensions arose between Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
The two got into an argument over transgender women’s participation in women’s sports. The exchange started after the president called the governor out directly for allowing her state to defy his executive order barring trans women from competition.
“See you in court,” Mills retorted.
Tim Walz said he won't run again for governor of Minnesota amid ongoing tensions over alleged fraud in the state.
Star Tribune via Getty Images/Star Tribune via Getty Images
Meanwhile, Minnesota Gov. Walz and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly pulled out of the NGA last July in protest at the organization’s lack of pushback against Trump.
Trump has been publicly fighting with various Democratic governors since he began his second term last January. Most recently, he backed off his attacks on Walz amid rising backlash toward the Trump Administration’s brutal immigration policies after federal agents killed two American citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, in Minneapolis.
California’s Gavin Newsom, with his wife by his side, on election night in Los Angeles, California, Nov. 6, 2018. Newsom defeated Republican John Cox to become the governor of California.
Frederic J. Bron/AFP
Gavin Newsom continues to be on the offensive against Trump. On Friday, he denounced the president’s Truth Social post depicting the Obamas as apes, calling on Republicans to condemn Trump’s actions as well.
Newsom, 58, teased a presidential bid last year, and a December Yale Youth Poll showed him as a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.
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