Governors won't hold meeting with Trump after White House only invited Republicans, Stitt says

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced on Monday the cancellation of a scheduled meeting between President-elect Donald Trump and the nation's governors after the incoming administration's transition team reportedly extended invitations exclusively to Republican leaders. The decision to scrap the bipartisan gathering followed growing concerns that the White House's selective invitation list undermined the traditional spirit of executive cooperation between state and federal levels. Stitt, who serves as a prominent Republican voice, communicated the shift in plans through a formal letter sent to his gubernatorial colleagues across the country, citing the lack of inclusion for Democratic governors as the primary driver for the pivot. The meeting was originally intended to serve as a high-level briefing to discuss federal-state priorities ahead of the upcoming presidential term. However, the move to exclude Democratic governors sparked immediate friction within the National Governors Association (NGA), an organization that prides itself on nonpartisan collaboration. By limiting the room to only members of the GOP, the transition team signaled a departure from the conventional practice of engaging with all state executives regardless of party affiliation to address national challenges such as legislative goals, infrastructure, and disaster relief. Governor Stitt’s letter clarified that while individual Republican governors may still maintain lines of communication with the Trump transition team, the formal group meeting as a collective body of state leaders could not proceed under the current restrictive format. This development highlights the intensifying partisan divide as the new administration prepares to take office, suggesting a potentially litigious or strained relationship between the White House and Democratic-led states. Observers note that such exclusion could complicate the implementation of federal policies that require broad state-level cooperation across the entire geographical landscape of the United States.