WASHINGTON — The White House defended President Donald Trump’s decision to exclude two Democrats from a traditionally bipartisan dinner held for the nation’s governors later this month.

Wes Moore and Jared Polis, the governors of Maryland and Colorado, said they were disinvited from a White House dinner, part of the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, a nonpartisan group comprised of all 50 governors who are set to gather from Feb. 19 to 21 in Washington.

“It’s the people’s house. It’s also the president’s home, and so he can invite whomever he wants to dinners and events here at the White House,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday during a briefing. “He welcomes all those who received an invitation to come, and if they don’t want to, that’s their loss.

The annual gathering of governors has served as a rare bipartisan get-together in the nation’s capital, but Trump’s choice to exclude Democrats from certain events has thrown the conference into chaos.

The NGA said it would not facilitate a formal meeting at the presidential mansion unless all governors are invited. On Tuesday, 18 Democratic governors also said they would boycott the dinner with Trump.

“If the reports are true that not all governors are invited to these events, which have historically been productive and bipartisan opportunities for collaboration, we will not be attending the White House dinner this year. Democratic governors remain united and will never stop fighting to protect and make life better for people in our states,” the group said in a statement.

Among those refusing to attend the dinner include several 2028 presidential hopefuls, including Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association; California’s Gavin Newsom; Illinois’s JB Pritzker; Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, the group’s vice chair.

Kathy Hochul of New York, Maura Healey of Massachusetts and Tony Evers of Wisconsin were also among those who said they planned to skip the White House dinner.

It’s unclear why Polis and Moore were excluded from the dinner, but Leavitt said that Moore, the NGA’s vice chair, was invited last year and chose not to attend.

Moore said he was not given a reason and seemed to suggest his race played a factor.

“My peers, both Democrats and Republicans, selected me to serve as the Vice Chair of the NGA, another reason why it’s hard not to see this decision as another example of blatant disrespect and a snub to the spirit of bipartisan federal-state partnership,” he said in a statement released on Sunday.

“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.”

The president has criticized Polis over the jailing of Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who was convicted of allowing unauthorized access to voting machines. The president in December said he had pardoned Peters but his powers only apply to federal convictions. Trump has pressured Polis to commute her sentence but the Colorado governor has so far refused.

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(With assistance from Skylar Woodhouse.)

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