A Bipartisan Governors' Group Is Splintering in the Trump Era

The Atlantic

24-07-2025

This coming weekend's summer meeting of the National Governors Association has been planned as a postcard-perfect celebration of bipartisan policy making. At the base of the Rocky Mountains, 20 governors from both parties will gather at the Broadmoor resort, in Colorado Springs, for golf, meals, and panels featuring Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the investor Mark Cuban, and the former Obama-administration economist Jason Furman.
But trouble is stirring beyond the open bars and talks about 'reigniting the American dream.' Some Democratic members of the group have privately been fuming in recent months over the organization's tepid reaction to President Donald Trump's federal incursions into state matters. They complain that the group did not respond forcefully enough when Trump's Office of Management and Budget briefly ordered a disruptive pause on the disbursement of all federal funds in January; when Maine Governor Janet Mills and her staff clashed with the White House the following month, over transgender sports; and in June, when Trump deployed the California National Guard to the streets of Los Angeles over the objections of local authorities.
At least two Democratic governors—Tim Walz of Minnesota, the 2024 vice-presidential nominee, and Laura Kelly of Kansas—plan to stop paying dues to the organization this month when they are asked to renew their membership. They have concluded that the organization's usefulness is now in doubt, according to two people familiar with the governors' thinking, who requested anonymity to speak about plans that were not yet public. Other Democratic-governors' offices have also been discussing their frustrations with the NGA and how they should respond, three other people familiar with the governors' thinking told us.
'When you are also paying dues with taxpayer dollars, it has got to be worth it, and they are going to have to demonstrate that. Right now they are not doing that,' one of these sources said. 'There have been ongoing concerns about the NGA among the Democratic governors and staff, off and on, for years.'
The NGA, a bipartisan group that was formed in 1908 to advise President Theodore Roosevelt on his conservation efforts, claims to be the collective voice of 55 states, territories, and commonwealths, representing their interests to the federal government. The NGA does not disclose the names of the states that pay the annual membership dues of nearly $100,000—money that governors draw from their own states' funds.
The NGA communications director, Eric Wohlschlegel, pushed back on the Democratic complaints, saying that the group had been preparing a statement on Trump's disbursement pause when the policy was reversed, and that the NGA did engage with a reporter to correct the record on the Mills conflict. The group didn't issue a statement about the California National Guard deployment because the governors couldn't come to a consensus on it. Wohlschlegel added that the NGA was 'focused on policy, not politics.'
'The National Governors Association exists to bring governors from both parties together around shared priorities, and that mission hasn't changed. Every public statement NGA issues reflects bipartisan consensus,' he told us. 'So far this year, all but one statement has had that consensus, and when governors don't agree, we simply don't issue one. That's how we preserve our role as a bipartisan convener—a principle we won't compromise.'
The Democratic frustrations arise from grievances both large and small about how the organization operates. One of the people familiar with the governors' complaints noted that the daily internal NGA newsletter made no mention of a recent hearing on Capitol Hill in which Walz, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker testified about their concerns over Trump's use of the National Guard in California. Those governors were not offered help preparing for the hearing by the NGA, a privilege offered to other governors, this person said. ('No request for support was made, so it's disingenuous to suggest support was withheld,' Wohlschlegel said.) Another person described the decision to stop paying dues as the result of a broader 'frustration and surprise around the fact that we are no longer able to agree and communicate concerns around states' rights and federal overreach.'
Neither Walz nor Kelly plans to travel this weekend for the meeting in Colorado Springs, where seven Democratic governors are expected to make an appearance. They are not the first governors to bolt from the collective. During the Obama administration, the leaders of multiple Republican states, including Texas and Florida, said that they would stop paying, citing the cost to taxpayers. Another person familiar with the situation told us that some Democratic NGA members have had 'frustrations with places like Florida, which don't pay dues, but still get to come if they want to come' to NGA events. The offices of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did not respond to emailed questions about whether their states currently pay dues.
The decisions by Minnesota and Kansas to hold back fees and pause membership in the organization come as Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, prepares to cede his chairmanship of the organization to Oklahoma Governor J. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who serves as vice chair, this weekend at the Broadmoor meeting. Democratic Maryland Governor Wes Moore is expected to be elected the group's next vice chair during the meeting, according to people familiar with the plan. Under the rules of the organization, the chair position rotates annually between a Democratic and Republican leader. The opposite party from that of the chair gets a majority of the seats on the NGA's executive committee, which currently comprises five Republicans and four Democrats, and has the power to vote on whether the group releases public statements.
Conor Cahill, a spokesperson for Polis, said that the Colorado governor has been 'honored' to pursue a series of policy initiatives at the organization, including education and permitting reform, and defended the NGA and its mission. 'During this polarizing time, bipartisan organizations are needed more than ever and NGA must continue to demonstrate value to all governors and effectively communicate governors' opinions on various matters with the public and the federal government,' Cahill told us in a statement.
After a February meeting in Washington, D. C., NGA leaders announced a list of '2025 federal priorities' that included items such as emergency-management improvements, waivers for federal social-services funding, and ensuring that the federal government funds the commitments it has already made to the states. 'Governors believe federal action should be limited to the powers expressly conveyed by the Constitution,' the group said in a statement.
Until Trump took control of the California National Guard, the NGA had shown a united front on a similar matter related to state military operations. Polis and Stitt have issued repeated statements from the NGA since last year objecting to congressional legislation that would reassign Air National Guard units, which are ostensibly under the command of governors, to the U.S. Space Force without the consent of states. 'This violates federal law and undermines the principles of cooperative federalism and the essential role that Governors play in maintaining the readiness of the National Guard,' they wrote in an April 22 statement.
When Trump ordered the National Guard deployment to protect federal immigration-enforcement operations in Los Angeles, that agreement broke down. The Democratic Governors Association, which is led by Kelly, of Kansas, did not hesitate. The group released a statement of its own from 22 Democratic governors—including Polis—calling Trump's Guard deployment 'an abuse of power.' Wohlschlegel argued that this was the proper result for issues on which there was not bipartisan agreement. 'Political advocacy is the job of the DGA and RGA,' he said.