The favoritism problem started before she ever reached DHS
Public documents from South Dakota's Government Accountability Board show that Noem was pulled into an ethics fight over her daughter Kassidy Peters' effort to obtain a real estate appraiser license.
One document says Noem included Peters in a July 27, 2020 meeting with labor officials about the certification process. A later complainant letter in the same official record says the longtime appraiser official involved testified that Peters was treated 'different than any other before,' that the process was 'out of the ordinary,' and that she felt intimidated.
AP says the daughter got certified anyway, and lawmakers found preferential treatment
AP reported that four months after the 2020 meeting, Noem's daughter got the certification. The same AP backgrounder says South Dakota lawmakers later unanimously approved a report finding that Peters had received preferential treatment.
The AP timeline connects the meeting, the certification, and the later legislative finding in the same licensing file.
She arrived in Washington with power, visibility, and a mandate from Trump
Congress.gov says Noem was confirmed as homeland security secretary on January 25, 2025 by a 59-34 Senate vote. DHS's own confirmation release cast the moment as a sweeping bipartisan endorsement and highlighted her promises on border security, immigration enforcement, and disaster relief.
The confirmation record gave Noem control of a department responsible for border enforcement, immigration systems, emergency management, cybersecurity, transportation security, and disaster response.
AP tied her exit to a $220 million ad campaign
AP reported in March 2026 that Noem's tenure ended after a $220 million DHS ad campaign that featured her in cowboy gear on horseback near Mount Rushmore.
AP said administration officials tied the ad campaign, leadership failures, and internal fallout to her firing.
The ad campaign put Noem at the center of the DHS message
AP's description of the $220 million campaign placed Noem herself in the visual frame: cowboy gear, horseback, Mount Rushmore.
The campaign became part of the reported management record, not a separate campaign-style media buy outside the department's work.
Even the spending process became about personal sign-off
AP reported on April 1, 2026 that Noem's successor rescinded her policy requiring Homeland Security expenditures above $100,000 to receive personal approval from her office. Critics said the rule especially burdened FEMA and slowed disaster response and recovery work.
The rescission put the $100,000 approval rule inside the post-Noem cleanup record, with FEMA named as the agency critics said had been burdened.
