Trump Continues to Politicize Disaster Relief, Denying Flooding and Wildfire Aid to Colorado

According to POLITICO, Trump has approved just 23% of disaster aid requests from Democratic-led states, compared to 89% for Republican-led states 

Washington, DC – Trump continued his record of politicizing disaster relief by rejecting Colorado’s request for flooding and wildfire aid for a second time. This is just the latest example of Trump denying aid for a state with a Democratic governor. It has been three times harder for Democratic-led states to get Trump’s approval for federal disaster aid than for Republican-led states. 

Climate Power Senior Advisor Mia Logan issued the following statement: “Trump has a long history of denying disaster relief for states that didn’t vote for him. Denied disaster relief leads to increased rebuilding and recovery costs for local communities and drives up home insurance rates in the state. When Trump plays politics with flooding and wildfire aid, he is forcing families in Colorado to bear the costs of recovery alone.”  

Trump has a history of politicizing and denying disaster aid: 

• As of March 2026, it was three times harder for Democratic-led states to get Trump’s approval for federal disaster aid. Trump approved just 23% of disaster aid requests from Democratic-led states, compared to 89% for Republican-led states. 
• Trump has taken an average of 80 days to approve or deny requests from blue states, compared to 39 days for red states.
• In 2025, Trump denied numerous requests for FEMA aid from states with Democratic governors, including Maryland, Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, and Arizona. 
• Under Trump, pending FEMA disaster applications are sitting longer on average than at any other point in the previous 37 years.
• After the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, Trump and Republican congressional leaders threatened to attach conditions to federal disaster aid, including changes in California’s water policies and forest management.
• Former Trump administration officials have alleged that Trump treated disaster aid as a “pot of cash for him to dole out as he saw fit,” dependent on how he was treated personally by a state’s politicians, and claimed he sought “personal gratitude” from governors seeking disaster relief. 
• During Trump’s first term, he initially withheld wildfire relief from California because it was a blue state, and only changed his mind after being shown voter maps demonstrating that heavily damaged Orange County had significant numbers of Trump supporters.
• In 2020, Trump reportedly withheld federal relief to Washington following wildfires due to his dislike of Democratic Governor Inslee.