Four days before the midterm elections, the Trump administration unlocked some long-withheld disaster aid funds for California and Minnesota. Most of the money is going to projects in areas represented by two Republican congressmen, according to records reviewed by The Washington Sun.
Another portion is going to churches in Los Angeles.
This previously unreported release of funding is just the latest example of the Trump administration heeding to Republicans’ demands to release long-awaited disaster funds but leaving Democrats’ requests unanswered.
On Oct. 30, the Federal Emergency Management Agency released tens of millions of dollars for California, only for several Los Angeles churches and for projects within or near vulnerable Republican Rep. David Valadao’s district in the Central Valley, according to the records.
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Some of the awards will go to projects directly within Valadao’s district, while others will go toward repairs within the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District — which manages water across the San Joaquin Valley, including Valadao’s district — and to hospital systems that stretch across his district. The constituents of Democratic Rep. Jim Costa, who represents a neighboring district, will also benefit from some of the grant funding because of these interconnected systems.
Still, the funds are only a fraction of what California has asked for. The state is waiting for well over $2 billion in disaster aid, stemming from the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires and several other disasters.
The Trump administration agreed to release the grants in California after Valadao worked with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office to pressure the White House and the Office of Management and Budget, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
Johnson knew that disaster funding was being withheld from California, one person familiar said. Valadao is running for reelection in one of the most closely watched races of the midterms in a district where Democrats have a registered voter advantage.
Valadao and Johnson’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On the same day that projects in Valadao’s district received funding, the administration released FEMA dollars to help reopen a road in Rockville, Minnesota — a city in House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s district.
Early last week, most of the Minnesota congressional delegation sent a letter to the Trump administration urging action on delays across more than a dozen projects. Those disaster recovery projects have been delayed more than a year because of missing funding. A few program delays extend even further into the past: hospitals in Minnesota are still waiting for reimbursement for pandemic-related costs.
The project in Emmer’s district was the only Minnesota request that received funding on Oct. 30. Emmer, who holds a powerful position in Washington, is running for reelection in a solidly Republican district. His office said the congressman did not play a role in unlocking the funds.
“The chief of staff (both whip and personal offices) and Whip Tom Emmer did not make any calls regarding this issue,” Emmer’s spokesperson said.
President Donald Trump has made a public show of releasing some disaster funds in the run-up to the midterms. On the same day that money was released in California and Minnesota, Trump approved an appeal from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for increased FEMA assistance. The president announced the additional assistance only three days after Abbott requested it, breaking with his pattern of taking weeks or even months to review — and then usually deny — appeals.
On Oct. 29, Trump also announced additional FEMA assistance for the Florida panhandle, after Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds and Republican Sen. Ashley Moody appealed to him personally for the declaration.
“They call up. They bug me all the time. They’re always looking for money,” Trump said, describing requests from Donalds and Moody during a speech Friday.
“We need the sign-off for individual assistance from FEMA for the people in the Panhandle,” Donalds said he told Trump, speaking at a rally before the president took the stage. “And it was signed off two hours later for the people in the Panhandle,” he added.
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement to The Sun that “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.”
“President Trump 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,” Bis said.
FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Trump administration has regularly targeted California and Minnesota on fronts that extend well beyond disaster relief. Minnesota has found itself at the heart of the White House’s fraud investigation efforts and is battling the administration’s withholding of funds across both Medicaid and SNAP. The administration also withheld more than $1 billion in Medicaid funds from California, while the DOJ is currently trying to block California from certifying more than 20,000 mail-in ballots in the midterms.
“Trump hasn’t lowered prices or kept us out of new wars. But he has kept one promise: withholding disaster aid from places that didn’t vote for him. Today’s announcement is the latest proof. Californians deserve better, and I’ll keep fighting to deliver the aid our communities need to recover,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) said in a statement to The Sun.
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