Trump administration concedes that it canceled research grants in blue states

The Trump administration admitted that it terminated nearly 300 federal research grants “solely because” the projects were connected to states that voted against President Donald Trump in 2024 and had two Democratic senators in office, according to court filings. The administration made the admission in a court filing this month responding to a lawsuit brought by University of California researchers challenging the cancellation. In the filing, the administration wrote as an undisputed statement of fact that on a list of more than 2,300 financial assistance awards across the Department of Energy, 624 grants on these lists were designated either “termination” or “cancel.” Of those 624 grants, Jeff Novak, the principal deputy general counsel of the Department of Energy, wrote that in October 2025 the Office of Management and Budget identified 284 specific grants that were marked to be terminated.