by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 1:15 PM ET, Wed October 15, 2025
UPDATED: 1:15 P.M. EST, October 15, 2025
Airports from New York to Phoenix are choosing not to air a controversial video of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem blaming the Democratic Party for the government shutdown, calling it a “political” message, with some experts calling it a violation of the 1939 Hatch Act.
The potentially illegal video was released for airports to use last week. In it, Kristi Noem states "Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted and most of our TSA employees are working without pay.”
Despite being factually incorrect—the Republicans have full control of the House, the Senate and the executive branch of government, and could end the shutdown by negotiating with Democrats over a new budget—the video might also violate the Hatch Act.
The act, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, was created “to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation."
Later today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation wrote a letter to Acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer demanding an investigation into whether Noem violated the Hatch Act.
Cantwell wrote: "I am formally notifying the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is airing a partisan video message—on televisions in public airports across the country—in which she erroneously blames 'Democrats in Congress' for the current government shutdown’s impact on airport 'operations' and for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees 'working without pay.' This message is not just false; it appears to violate the prohibitions contained in the Hatch Act.
"When viewed in its totality, Secretary Noem’s video can only be reasonably interpreted as a partisan message intended to misleadingly malign the Trump Administration’s political opponents, convince Americans to blame 'Democrats in Congress' for the ongoing government shutdown, and influence their future votes—all while omitting the fact that Republicans currently control the White House, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives," continued Sen. Cantwell.
According to The Associated Press, airports in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Phoenix, Seattle and others have independently chosen not to air the video, stating that it goes against their policies on political messaging.
Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas told AP News it had to “remain mindful of the Hatch Act’s restrictions.”
In a statement, the airport wrote: “Per airport regulations, the terminals and surrounding areas are not designated public forums, and the airport’s intent is to avoid the use of the facility for political or religious advocacy.”
Some 50,000 TSA officers are currently working without pay, having received their last paycheck as of October 14.
Even airports in Republican-dominated states like Montana have declined. The airport in Billings “politely declined” to air the video, with assistant aviation director Paul Khera telling AP: “We don’t want to get in the middle of partisan politics.”
Yet some had stronger words to say. Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins of New York called the video “inappropriate, unacceptable, and inconsistent with the values we expect from our nation’s top public officials.”
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