Trump designated disaster aid to 9 Republican-leaning states while plugging GOP candidates

 

President Donald Trump announced he approved more than $846 million in disaster relief funds for Republican-leaning states in a series of posts on his social media platform, combining the announcements with praise for candidates he endorsed in those states' upcoming elections.  

"I am pleased to announce that the Great State of Louisiana has been approved to be given $8.6 Million Dollars in its Disaster Declaration Request. Louisiana is truly a special place, with Governor Jeff Landry, Senator John Kennedy, soon to be Senator Julia Letlow, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Congressman Clay Higgins," Trump said in one of the nine social media posts he made relating to aid approvals Tuesday evening.

The disaster relief approvals come as people across the U.S. experience severe weather events in recent days -- from a wildfire in Utah approaching 100,000-acres to extreme heat in the Midwest and Northeast to a declared state of emergency due to flash flooding in Kentucky.

The president has repeatedly approved a higher percentage of aid requests for Republican-leaning states than for Democratic-leaning ones in his second term, according to the nonpartisan think tank Urban Institute. Nearly 84% of disaster requests from states that voted for Trump in 2024 were approved, compared to about 42% from states that voted for Kamala Harris, according to an analysis of public FEMA data from Andrew Rumbach, senior fellow at the Urban Institute.

In April, Trump rejected aid requests relating to wildfires and flooding from Colorado's Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. Last year, more than 19 states sued the Trump administration for withholding FEMA funds, all led by Democratic attorneys general.

Following a bomb cyclone storm in November, Trump denied Washington state's request for aid, refusing both then Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee's initial request and Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson's later appeal. FEMA had documented $34 million in damage from the storms and flooding.

Trump's aid approval announcements Tuesday showed a similar pattern. All nine of the states whose disaster requests were approved voted for Trump in 2024.

Asked for comment about Trump's disproportionate disaster aid approvals to Republican-leaning states, a White House spokeswoman told ABC News in a statement, "President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him. The President responds to each request for Federal assistance under the Stafford Act with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement -- not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters."

"There is no politicization to the President's decisions on disaster relief, unlike under the Biden Administration where FEMA officials refused aid to disaster survivors who displayed political signs and flags they disagreed with," the spokeswoman continued. "The Trump administration remains committed to empowering and working with State and local governments to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged."

As ABC News has reported, a FEMA supervisor was fired during damage response from Hurricane Milton in 2024 in one storm-ravaged Florida town for allegedly asking team members to not inspect homes that had signs supporting Trump. About a month prior, Trump had repeatedly pushed misinformation during Hurricane Helene recovery efforts, falsely claiming that disaster funds were being used on immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally rather than Americans impacted by disasters. 

Democratic senators have moved to demand greater transparency regarding the Trump administration's review of disaster declaration requests. Michigan Sen. Gary Peters and New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim led 15 Democratic senators in sending a letter to the Office of Management and Budget on June 16, which they believe assisted the president in reviewing disaster declaration requests. 

"Federal regulations require FEMA to provide recommendations based on specific, verifiable criteria," wrote the senators. "To date, President Trump's Administration has provided no further information regarding what this new approval process entails or what metrics or other considerations it relies on, causing uncertainty that leaves disaster survivors in the dark." 

The governor of a state affected by disasters is the one who sends official aid requests to FEMA. Six of the nine states hold gubernatorial elections in 2026 and Trump officially endorsed candidates in all six races.

In his Tuesday posts, Trump noted that he spoke with Republican governors about the aid approvals. But for the states with Democratic governors -- Wisconsin and Kansas -- he doesn't mention the governors, instead saying that he spoke with the states' senators and other lawmakers. The two largest aid designations were given to Florida, with $415.9 million in aid for severe storms in the Panhandle, and to Georgia, with $318.3 million in aid relating to Hurricane Helene.

Trump has twice endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds in Florida's governor race. In Georgia, voters rejected Trump's pick for governor, opting for healthcare tycoon Rick Jackson.