Are one-time Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem close to announcing a run for the presidency?
The duo posted a video on X Saturday, suited up in hunting gear, rifles in hand, and showing off a lineup of pheasants they had killed. But Bovino’s post also tagged two prominent Democrats who have been publicly discussed as potential 2028 presidential contenders: California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Asked by the Daily Beast Saturday if he and Noem were running for something in 2028, Bovino offered a cryptic response: “We are running for America.”
Noem did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bovino’s post tagging Newsom and Pritzker is notable because both men are widely considered top possible Democratic presidential candidates. Newsom has faced persistent speculation about a 2028 White House bid, while Pritzker has also been floated as a potential contender.
Pritzker, in particular, has already clashed with Bovino over the Border Patrol commander’s immigration crackdown in Illinois.
Bovino isn’t exactly new to the idea of running for president. He bared his presidential ambitions earlier this year, announcing that he was launching an “exploratory” committee to decide whether to run. He has already rolled out a Bovino2028.com website with a section explaining “why we need a Bovino presidency.”
“If I were President, I’d lead that [deportation] effort from the front and be on the front line from time to time,” he wrote in a statement in June.
Bovino hasn’t announced a decision to launch a campaign yet.
Noem, meanwhile, has her own political future to consider. President Donald Trump fired the former South Dakota governor as DHS secretary in March and replaced her with Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin after months of scrutiny over her management of the department, spending, and aggressive immigration policies.
Before joining Trump’s Cabinet, Noem had already built a national profile as a prominent MAGA figure and two-term governor of South Dakota. She also briefly emerged as a potential vice presidential contender in 2024 before Trump selected JD Vance.
One X user responding to Saturday’s video said they couldn’t wait for Noem to primary South Dakota GOP Sen. John Thune into retirement. Bovino fired back: “Yep!”
The video itself offered few clues about what, exactly, the pair might have in mind. Bovino and Noem were dressed like twins in matching orange hats and camouflage as they showed off their pheasant haul.
“Hunted pheasant today with Secretary Noem,” Bovino said in the video, using the ousted DHS director’s former title. “Dream team still racking them up!”
The pair’s reunion prompted plenty of commentary online, although much of it was less about presidential politics than their shared history as some of Trump’s most aggressive immigration enforcers.
Some commenters celebrated the duo for driving immigrants out of the country. “Awesome! We miss you guys so much!” wrote one X user.
Some other responses were considerably harsher. One commenter called Bovino “Nazi Greg,” while another wrote that the pair looked like two “MAGAtard garden gnomes.”
Another commenter wrote: “I can’t think of two more disgusting people than you two. Did you shoot any dogs or Mexicans?”
Bovino responded with a joke of his own: “I almost got a shot at a coyote (4 legged kind).”
Bovino was pressured into retirement in March after his immigration crackdown came under intense scrutiny after federal agents killed two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis in January.
Noem was also pushed out of the Trump administration in March after her tenure at DHS drew scrutiny over her spending and aggressive approach to immigration enforcement.
For now, neither has announced any 2028 plans. But between Bovino’s existing presidential operation, Noem’s political profile, their apparent alliance—and that pointed “Yep!” about taking on Thune—the hunting video may have been more than just a Saturday afternoon pheasant shoot.
