Photo: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images News / Getty Images
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says it is “not lost on” him that he was excluded from a White House dinner for governors — a decision that singled out the nation’s only Black governor from a long-standing bipartisan tradition.
Moore, a Democrat and vice chair of the National Governors Association, told CNN’s State of the Union that he was never invited to the annual National Governors Association dinner at the White House, a decades-long bipartisan tradition held during the NGA’s winter meeting. The dinner is typically attended by governors from both parties and hosted by the sitting president.
“It’s not lost on me that I’m the only Black governor in this country, and I find that to be particularly painful,” Moore said, adding that his exclusion was especially confusing given that he recently helped lead a bipartisan delegation of governors to the White House.
President Donald Trump had already announced that this year’s winter meeting would include only Republican governors. But Moore — along with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis — was specifically blocked from attending the black-tie dinner, even as other Democratic governors were invited.
Moore emphasized that while he cannot speak to the president’s intent, the optics are impossible to ignore.
“I’m not in a room because of someone’s benevolence,” Moore said. “I’m in the room because I belong there — and the room was incomplete until I got there.”
He added on X, "As the nation’s only Black governor, I can’t ignore that being singled out for exclusion from this bipartisan tradition carries an added weight — whether that was the intent or not. What makes it especially confounding is that just weeks ago I was at the White House with a bipartisan group of governors, working with the administration on reforms to lower energy costs and strengthen grid reliability."
Moore continued, "We proved in that moment what’s possible when we stay focused on outcomes over politics. As Governor of Maryland and Vice Chair of the NGA, my approach will never change: I’m ready to work with the administration anywhere we can deliver results. Yet, I promised the people of my state I will work with anybody but will bow down to nobody. And I guess the President doesn’t like that."
Moore is the only sitting Black governor and just the third Black governor ever elected in U.S. history, following L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. He said the exclusion carries added weight, particularly as he was chosen by governors from both parties to help lead the NGA.
In response, the NGA confirmed it will not recognize the dinner as an official NGA event and will not provide organizational support for it. Moore echoed that position, saying that if the president wants to host a private dinner with political allies, he is free to do so — but it will not carry the association’s name.
The White House defended the move, with officials saying the president reserves the right to invite whomever he wants and dismissing concerns about Moore’s exclusion.
Still, the decision comes amid heightened scrutiny of Trump’s rhetoric and actions around race, including recent backlash over a racist video shared on his social media depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
Moore declined to call for an apology over that incident, saying accountability matters more than words. “An apology is only meaningful if there’s no intention of it happening again,” he said.
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