The Trump administration told a federal judge earlier this month that the Trump administration had deliberately canceled grants in “Blue States” who had awarded their electoral votes to Kamala Harris and/or “has two Democratic-caucusing Senators.” A number of grants to New Mexico energy projects were included, the government now admits.
The admissions were included in court filings related to a lawsuit by California-based researchers who have alleged the Trump administration improperly cancelled grants awarded during the Biden administration. The New York Times reported on the California cancellations this week. New Mexico News is the first to report on New Mexico contract cancellations.
The filings specifically relate to the cancellation of 284 projects overseen by the Department of Energy, including several in New Mexico. “With one exception, the 284 terminated grants had a recipient location and/or at least one place of performance in a state that awarded its electoral votes to Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and has two Democratic-caucusing Senators (“Blue State” grants),” the government admitted in response to a request for documents. More than 300 projects in states that voted for President Donald Trump were not cancelled.
New Mexico Political Report wrote in October 2025 that the White House had cut over $192 million in federal funds from New Mexico projects because, according to the White House, the state is a “Blue State” run by Democrats. The cancelled projects were located at New Mexico Technology and a PNM clean energy project. At the time, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called the decision “nakedly political, unhinged and unlawful,” noting that Congress had already approved and funded these projects.
The court filings confirm the partisan motivations behind the decisions. “DOE accepts that the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state, i.e., whether the recipient’s location and/or place of performance was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State,” the government attorney wrote.