President Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening the approval of more than $846 million in disaster relief funds for nine states, all of which voted for him in the 2024 election. The announcements, made across nine posts on his social media platform, were often accompanied by praise for Republican candidates in those states and references to 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 posts.
The disaster relief approvals come amid widespread severe weather events across the United States, including wildfires in Utah, extreme heat in the Midwest and Northeast, and flash flooding in Kentucky.
An analysis by the nonpartisan Urban Institute suggests a partisan disparity in Trump's approval of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster aid requests. According to the analysis of public FEMA data by Andrew Rumbach, a senior fellow at the 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.
Previous instances have shown Trump rejecting aid requests from states with Democratic leadership. In April, Trump rejected aid requests from Colorado's Democratic Governor Jared Polis related to wildfires and flooding. Last year, more than 19 states, led by Democratic attorneys general, sued the Trump administration for withholding FEMA funds.
In November, after a bomb cyclone storm, Trump denied Washington state's request for aid, rejecting both the initial request from then-Democratic Governor Jay Inslee and a subsequent appeal from Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson. FEMA had documented $34 million in damages from those storms and flooding.
The two largest aid designations announced Tuesday were for Florida, receiving $415.9 million for severe storms in the Panhandle, and Georgia, with $318.3 million for Hurricane Helene. Trump has endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds in Florida's gubernatorial race, while Georgia voters did not initially select Trump's preferred candidate for governor.
For states with Democratic governors, such as Wisconsin and Kansas, Trump's posts did not mention the governors but instead referenced conversations with senators and other lawmakers from those states.
A White House spokeswoman told ABC News that "President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him." The spokeswoman added, "There is no politicization to the President's decisions on disaster relief." She further stated that the Trump administration is committed to working with state and local governments to invest in resilience before disasters strike.
Democratic senators have sought greater transparency regarding the Trump administration's review process for disaster declaration requests. Sens. Gary Peters and Andy Kim, along with 15 other Democratic senators, sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget on June 16, expressing concern that federal regulations require FEMA to provide recommendations based on specific, verifiable criteria. They stated that President Trump's administration has not provided information about the approval process or the metrics it relies upon, creating uncertainty for disaster survivors.
Official disaster aid requests are sent to FEMA by a state's governor. Six of the nine states that received aid approvals on Tuesday hold gubernatorial elections in 2026, and Trump has officially endorsed candidates in all six of those races.