Claim:
In October 2025, after summer storms severely affected areas of the United States, U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, approved Federal Emergency Management Assistance disaster relief aid for affected red states but denied assistance to blue states.
Rating:
Context
Trump approved storm-related disaster relief requests from three red states and denied them from three blue states in October. He also approved a major disaster declaration for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota, a blue state. As a tribe, the Leech Lake Band is entitled to request funding separate from the state where it is located. It is worth noting that Trump approved disaster relief funding for blue states earlier in his term and denied separate major disaster funding for Alaska in October for a fire.
After storms swept through the United States in summer 2025, a rumor spread online that U.S. President Donald Trump approved Federal Emergency Management Assistance disaster relief funding for affected “red” states while denying the same kind of aid to “blue” states.
Allegations about Trump’s partisan favoritism spread on Facebook, X and Reddit.
As first reported by The Associated Press, Trump released a string of major disaster declarations in October. He approved declarations for Alaska, Nebraska and North Dakota — all heavily Republican states — and denied requests from Vermont, Illinois and Maryland — all heavily Democratic. The president’s disaster declarations authorized FEMA to provide recipients with federal financial assistance for “individuals and public infrastructure, including funds for both emergency and permanent work.”Â
Given that Trump did, in fact, only grant approvals to red states and denials to blue states in the most recent batch of decisions on disaster aid as of this writing, we have rated this claim true.
However, it is worth noting that Trump also approved aid for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota, a blue state, and called the tribe “incredible people.” As a tribe, the Leech Lake Band is entitled to request funding separate from the state it is located in. Furthermore, Trump denied a disaster declaration request from Alaska, a Republican stronghold for a separate fire.
As such, while the above social media posts are factual, it is more contextually precise to state — as the AP did — that Trump’s disaster relief, in a batch of October decisions, fell largely along party lines, but not entirely.
Trump also said in an October Truth Social post that he approved $2.5 million from FEMA’s Individual Assistance program for Missouri after “severe storms, high winds, large hail, flash flooding, and tornadoes.” In that post and in posts announcing the aid for Alaska and North Dakota, Trump noted he won the states in question during his presidential campaigns.
“It is my Honor to deliver for the Great State of Alaska,” one of Trump’s posts said, “which I won BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024 — ALASKA, I WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”Â
In an emailed statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump “provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him – gone are the days of rubber stamping FEMA recommendations.”
She added that the president responds to each request 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.”
Trump previously approved assistance sent to blue states for other disasters during his term, but a Snopes analysis of FEMA data found he approved more requests from red states than blue ones.
FEMA data on disaster assistance
FEMA provides data on each approval and denial of requests for disaster assistance from states and tribes. Per a download and analysis of these two datasets, Trump approved four major disasters, total, in the month of October, all last updated on Oct. 23. All four disasters were tagged under the label “SEVERE STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING.”
States that request the president’s aid generally must first go through a preliminary damage assessment done by state officials alongside FEMA, which means that by the time a request reaches the president’s desk, FEMA officials already have done an initial review of the extent of the disaster and what types of federal assistance may be needed. The state also uses that information in its request to show that it needs help from the federal government. (If an event is obviously catastrophic, however, the state can forgo the preliminary assessment to speed things along.)
According to FEMA’s news releases and Trump’s Truth Social announcements, the president approved $25 million for Alaska after back-to-back storms — including the remnants of Typhoon Halong — devastated coastal villages. Nebraska received $15 million and North Dakota got $3 million, both for August storms. The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe received $260,000 following a June storm with straight-line winds.
Depending on the area, the money may go to repair and replacement of facilities, grants for temporary housing and home repairs, funds to replace personal property and “other programs to help individuals and families recover from the effects of the disaster.”
At first glance, the raw dataset also suggested that aside from approving aid for three Republican states, Trump approved funding for heavily blue Minnesota — but clicking the link to FEMA’s “disaster page URL” led to a page (archived) showing Trump’s administration approved the disaster declaration for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, not the state of Minnesota.
As of September 2015 — the most recently available data — the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe had about 9,500 enrolled members. Specific data on the tribe’s political leanings did not appear to be available as of this writing. While the Leech Lake Band is located in counties that voted for Trump, a May report from the tribe’s elected chairman, Faron Jackson Sr., heavily criticized the Trump administration’s cuts to child care programs and federal tribal funding (see Page 4). Financial disclosures also indicate the tribe’s leadership may lean Democratic.
Trump also turned down disaster declaration requests from four states on Oct. 22, which comprised all denials last updated in October as of this writing. Three of those four states requested aid due to disasters labeled as “Severe Storm.” The remaining state, Alaska, requested a major disaster declaration due to a fire that destroyed a public safety building.
Snopes analyzed FEMA disaster declaration approval data for Trump’s second term, with states color coded to denote partisan leanings and October approvals in bold, as well as denial data with the same annotations.
A closer look at Trump’s FEMA decisions
Some of Trump’s denials in blue states will affect areas that voted for him. Maryland, for example, requested funding after May flooding devastated two areas in the westernmost part of the state: Garrett County, which Trump won in 2024 by 54 points, and Allegany County, which he won by 40 points, as noted in the Daily Blast podcast from progressive news outlet The New Republic.
In a letter appealing Trump’s initial denial in July, Maryland’s Democratic governor, Wes Moore, said the Maryland Department of Emergency Management, in coordination with FEMA, determined the damage eligible for federal assistance was estimated at $33.7 million in the two counties. He specified immediate needs such as a nonfunctioning boiler in an elementary school amid dropping temperatures and a natural-gas shutdown to protect the public from floodwater damages from submerged gas systems. Trump’s October denial was in response to this appeal.
“This outcome is not just deeply frustrating, it also ignores the devastation wrought by historic floods in Appalachia and leaves Marylanders on their own,” Moore said in an Oct. 23 news release. “FEMA has a responsibility to weigh the merits of each emergency request objectively. Instead, President Trump and his Administration have politicized disaster relief, and our communities are the ones who will pay the price.”
As previously mentioned, Trump has not unilaterally spurned Democratic-leaning states in doling out FEMA aid during his second term. However, based on a Snopes analysis of FEMA data, Trump approved major disaster or emergency declarations for blue states just five times — and 101 times for red states, alongside one approval each for Wisconsin and Michigan, both considered swing states. (Emergency declarations are more limited than major disasters.)
As of this writing, he has denied aid nine times to blue states, nine times to red states and once to Michigan. Several states still have pending requests, according to the AP. An AP investigation also found that presidents — especially Trump — have taken increasingly longer to declare a major disaster.
Take this data with a grain of salt: Snopes has not analyzed how hard natural disasters hit blue states as opposed to red ones in 2025. Rebuild by Design, a project of New York University, found 99.5% of congressional districts include a county that has received a major disaster declaration for extreme weather between 2011 and 2024. Across all districts, Republican districts tend to have more disasters and receive slightly more federal funding for disasters, according to an AP analysis of Rebuild by Design’s data.
In sum …
When specifically considering FEMA major disaster declarations for storm damage in a batch of decisions released together in October, Trump approved assistance only for Republican-leaning states and denied aid to Democratic ones, based on FEMA’s datasets. He also touted those states’ support for him when announcing the relief on Truth Social. However, he also denied Alaska’s October request for a major disaster declaration after a fire and approved a request from an Ojibwe tribe based in Minnesota.
Overall, based on reporting from The Associated Press and Snopes’ own analysis, it is accurate to say that Trump has approved many more major disaster declarations for red states than blue ones during his second term. It was unclear whether that has to do with partisan favoritism, how disasters unfolded across the states or other factors.
Sources
@realDonaldTrump. “Donald J. Trump: “I Spoke with Governor Kelly Armstrong, and Informed Him of My Approval of $3…” Trump’s Truth, 23 Oct. 2025, truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115421521228626427. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
—. “I Just Granted $260,000 to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe for Public Assistance. These Incredible People Are Tough, Smart, and Will Build Their Community Stronger than Ever Before!” Truth Social, 22 Oct. 2025, truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115419583758354199. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
—. “I Just Informed Governor Mike Dunleavy That, Based on His Request, I Am Approving $25 Million Dollars to Help Alaska Recover from the Major Typhoon They Experienced Earlier This Month. It Is My Honor to Deliver for the Great State of Alaska, Which I Won BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024 — ALASKA, I WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” Truth Social, 22 Oct. 2025, truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115419584805414647. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
—. “I Just Spoke with Governor Mike Kehoe, of the Great State of Missouri, and Told Him That I Am Approving $2.5 Million Dollars in Individual Assistance after Severe Storms, High Winds, Large Hail, Flash Flooding, and Tornadoes, Which Occurred Earlier This Year. I Won ‘the Show Me State’ Three Times in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and It Is My Honor to Deliver for These Incredible Patriots!” Truthsocial.com, 22 Oct. 2025, truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115419577297297862. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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