President Donald Trump has publicly excluded Wes Moore from a White House governors’ dinner and sharply criticized him in a lengthy Truth Social post, escalating tensions between the administration and Democratic state leaders.
The dispute centers on two events tied to the National Governors Association’s (NGA) winter meeting in Washington: a formal policy meeting at the White House and a traditional bipartisan governors’ dinner.
Initially, reports indicated the White House planned to invite only Republican governors to the policy meeting. After bipartisan pushback, invitations were extended to governors of both parties for that meeting. However, Trump has publicly maintained that Moore and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis are excluded from the dinner portion.
In his social media post, Trump wrote that invitations were sent to “ALL Governors, other than two, who I feel are not worthy of being there.”
Trump described Moore as “foul mouthed,” criticized crime in Baltimore and accused him of falsely claiming military honors. He also attacked Moore over the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Moore, 47, was elected Maryland’s first Black governor in 2022 and took office in January 2023. A Democrat widely viewed as a rising national figure and potential presidential contender in 2028, Moore previously served as CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, a major anti-poverty nonprofit in New York, and led the Baltimore-based organization BridgeEdU. He is a former Army Reserve officer who deployed to Afghanistan in 2005 and was formally awarded the Bronze Star in 2024 after earlier mistakenly stating he had received it before the paperwork was finalized.
“It’s not lost on me that I’m the only Black governor in this country,” Moore said in interviews, adding that the exclusion “carries an added weight — whether that was the intent or not.” When asked whether he believed race played a role, Moore said he could not speak to the president’s intent.
Trump’s post also targeted Polis, saying he was excluded over Colorado’s imprisonment of a former county clerk convicted in connection with efforts to access voting system data following the 2020 election. Trump described the woman as “unfairly incarcerated” and criticized Colorado’s handling of the case.
The White House has said the two governors were excluded because of “their own incompetence,” rejecting suggestions that the move reflects bias.
Civil rights advocates have questioned why Moore — the nation’s only Black governor — and Polis, who is openly gay, were singled out when other Democratic governors who have sharply criticized Trump were invited.
The clash comes amid broader tensions between the Trump administration and Maryland leaders over immigration enforcement. State Democrats have advanced legislation limiting local cooperation agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), drawing opposition from Republican lawmakers who argue the measures could undermine public safety.
At his recent State of the State address, Moore pledged to protect Marylanders from what he described as unconstitutional federal actions and to hold federal agents accountable for civil rights violations. Hours later, Trump lashed out on social media, calling Baltimore a “Crime Disaster” and reiterating his decision to exclude Moore from the governors’ dinner.
The public snub marks a break from the longstanding tradition of bipartisan engagement between governors and the White House — and places Moore, already viewed as a possible future national candidate, more squarely in the center of an increasingly personal political fight.