"The red states receive more in federal tax money than they pay into the treasury."
We would have to see some detailed figures and breakdowns to judge what this means (if it is true). That verb 'receive' obscures much, even if this statement might be true in terms of the dollars of federal receipts and expenditures (I don't know that it is -- do you have the numbers?). Granting for the sake of argument that it may be true, I would wager (if I were a betting man) that a very disproportionate percentage of the nation's military expenditures and also the members of our armed forces are concentrated in the 'red' states (unless CA's bases offset the south and southwest). I'd bet a disproportionate share of the nation's defense is borne by soldiers, Marines, sailors, and airmen who grew up in 'red' states (that does not in any way denigrate all who serve and came from 'blue' states, but I suspect they respresent a smaller % of their states' populations).
Plus, more major corporations are based in the blue cities, so corporate income tax revenue is higher from the blue states. Finally, traditional welfare spending has taken a hit with the success of the various welfare reforms while agricultural subsidies have held relatively strong. Today's welfare is Earned Income Credit -- that's something you can get while working so there's plenty of it in both red and blue areas.