Kerrville city manager referred to Kristi Noem as 'basically homeland Barbie' after flooding media briefing, texts show [View all]

Source: KSAT-TV San Antonio, TX

Published: July 27, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Updated: July 28, 2025 at 10:55 AM


KERRVILLE, Texas – Kerrville leaders were largely caught off guard by the deadly July 4 floods in the Hill Country, text message and email records released this weekend by the city show.

The hundreds of pages of records, provided to KSAT Investigates following a series of public records requests, include a text thread from Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice in which he referred to U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem as “basically homeland Barbie.”

The text was sent July 5, hours after Rice and Noem had taken part in a press conference in Kerrville regarding the then-ongoing search and rescue efforts in the region. Rice did not respond to an email seeking comment Sunday, a day after city officials released records showing his communications from July 3-5.

At least 137 people died statewide, 108 of them in Kerr County, during the historic flooding event earlier this month.

Read more: https://www.ksat.com/news/ksat-investigates/2025/07/28/kerrville-city-manager-referred-kristi-noem-as-basically-homeland-barbie-after-flooding-press-conference-texts-show/