Airports are being dragged into the political fight over the government shutdown, with some refusing requests to play a message from Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Fox News first obtained Noem’s video last week, reporting it would “play at every public airport in America.”
But airport authorities in Portland, Seattle, New York, Boston, Phoenix, and Charlotte told Business Insider that they’re not playing it.
In the clip, Noem said Transportation Security Administration operations were impacted, and most of its employees were working without pay, because “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government.”
“Our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government,” she added.
A spokesperson for the Port of Portland, which operates Portland International Airport, confirmed it received a request from the TSA to play the video.
“However, we did not consent to playing the video in its current form, as we believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” they said.
The 1939 Hatch Act restricts the political activity of federal employees to help ensure that government programs are nonpartisan.
The spokesperson also said they believe it would violate Oregon law, which states that public employees can’t promote or oppose political parties.
FIRST ON FOX: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem blasted Democrats for the government shutdown affecting TSA workers in a video that will play at every public airport in America. pic.twitter.com/LdhRmF6wlT
— Preston Mizell (@MizellPreston) October 9, 2025
The Port of Seattle, which oversees Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, also told Business Insider it wouldn’t play the video “due to its political content.”
“We continue to urge bipartisan efforts to end the government shutdown and are working to find ways to support federal employees working without pay at SEA during the shutdown,” they added.
Spokespeople for Phoenix Sky Harbor International and upstate New York’s Niagara Falls Frontier Transportation Authority said their policies prohibited them from playing political content.
Ken Jenkins, the Democratic executive of New York’s Westchester County, said its airport wouldn’t display the video. “It is inappropriate, unacceptable, and inconsistent with the values we expect from our nation’s top public officials.”
Meanwhile, some major US airports said they wouldn’t be able to play the video anyway.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the country’s seventh busiest by passengers, said TSA doesn’t have any monitors at its checkpoints, while the airport’s “limited digital screens” are used for essential travel information and “revenue-generating services.”
“North Carolina municipal law, as well as CLT Airport’s policy for digital content, do not permit the referenced video,” the spokesperson added.
A spokesperson for Massport, which runs Boston Logan International, said the video wasn’t being played at its airports and it hadn’t received a request to play it.
“Besides, there are no video screens at our TSA checkpoints,” they added.
The Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement: “It is TSA’s top priority to ensure that travelers have the most safe, pleasant, and efficient airport experience possible.”
She also blamed “Democrats in Congress” and “political gamesmanship” for the shutdown.
Democrats, on the other hand, are blaming the Republicans.
“They’re callously choosing to hurt people,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said last Friday. “This is deliberate chaos.”
Wednesday will mark two weeks since the shutdown began.
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