Trump denied Gov. Jay Inslee’s initial request in April. Gov. Bob Ferguson appealed Trump’s initial denial in May.

Neither denial offered any explanation.

Sen. Patty Murray called the decision a “betrayal” and a “dangerous politicization of disaster assistance.”

“Storms and disasters don’t discriminate between red and blue communities and neither should our President,” Murray said in a press release.

Since February, Trump has denied 6 of 10 major-disaster requests he has received from Democratic governors, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency records analyzed by KUOW.

Trump has approved 14 of 15 requests he has received from Republican governors.

Trump has denied requests from California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin.

He also denied a request from Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his former press secretary, following a series of tornadoes and hailstorms in March.

Sanders appealed the denial, and Trump approved it in May.

FEMA makes recommendations on states’ requests for disaster declarations and other emergency aid, but the final decision rests with the president.

“After a thorough review of all the information contained in the initial request and appeal, we reaffirm the determination that supplemental federal assistance under the Stafford Act is not warranted,” FEMA’s acting head David Richardson wrote to Ferguson on Thursday.

Richardson, whose title is “Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator,” is a former Marine artillery officer with no experience in emergency management.

By law, only experienced managers with “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management” can serve as FEMA administrator.

Richardson’s predecessor, acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton, was fired in May after testifying that eliminating the agency, as Trump and Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem have both called for, was not in the best interest of the American people.

Previous presidents approved major-disaster requests 85% of the time over the past 25 years, a KUOW investigation of data from FEMA learned.

Washington state and FEMA officials jointly estimated November’s bomb-cyclone did $34 million in damage, or $4.42 for every person in the state. That joint assessment put costs at more than twice the $1.89 per-capita threshold the agency usually uses in deciding whether a catastrophe is severe enough to warrant federal intervention.

Once a major disaster is declared, FEMA typically covers 75% of the cost of removing debris and replacing public infrastructure like roads and power lines, as well as providing grants to individuals to repair and rebuild.