Some Democrats Absent as National Governors Association Wrestles With Partisanship

COLORADO SPRINGS—In the shadow of the Rockies at a resort hotel, state leaders assembled on July 25 and 26—some of them, anyway. They came to the Broadmoor for the National Governors Association’s summer meeting, where Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, handed over the leadership gavel to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a past association chair who challenged Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, told The Epoch Times that the National Governors Association is “the last bastion of bipartisanship in American politics.” Although some state executives from both parties did not show up, two absences were particularly glaring: Govs. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Laura Kelly of Kansas, both Democrats....