Corey Lewandowski, ousted from his government post alongside fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, is maneuvering to regain political relevance, and publicly suggesting Noem could primary Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The 52-year-old former Trump campaign manager appeared on conservative podcaster John Fredericks' show in late June and took direct aim at Thune's 2028 Senate seat. Lewandowski called the South Dakota Republican "very susceptible to a very serious Republican primary challenge" and pointed to someone with "a proven history of winning an election in South Dakota", a description that fits only one person in his orbit.
That person is Noem, the 54-year-old former governor and former Homeland Security secretary who was fired by President Trump earlier this year after a string of controversies. The New York Post reported that Lewandowski and Noem, both still officially married to other people, were spotted biking and canoodling at Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, this week. Neither has commented on intimate photos published by TMZ.
Reached for comment Thursday, Lewandowski did not deny the Thune maneuvering. He told the Post that Trump "carried the state of South Dakota by nearly 30 points" and that the state's voters "overwhelmingly support his agenda for America."
He added a line that read less like commentary and more like a warning:
"No politician is immune to the will of the voters."
The numbers give Lewandowski something to work with. A KELOLAND/Emerson College poll conducted in May found Trump's job approval among South Dakota voters at 53 percent. Thune's approval sat at 28 percent, a gap wide enough to make any incumbent nervous heading into a primary cycle.
Thune, asked this week on Capitol Hill whether he planned to seek a fifth term in 2028, offered a hedged answer. "My assumption is, going in, that I am," the 65-year-old majority leader said, before adding: "Every election has an impact on that, so we'll see how it comes out in November."
That kind of non-commitment tends to invite challengers, not deter them. And Thune has already drawn frustration from the White House over the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to cast a ballot. Thune has said the bill, described as Trump's signature legislation, does not have the votes to pass the Senate.
Noem became the first woman elected governor of South Dakota in 2018, after serving four terms in the House. She was widely viewed as a rising conservative star with ambitions that extended well beyond Pierre. But her tenure at DHS, where Trump appointed her to lead the department, ended in a public firing.
Trump grew frustrated after Noem oversaw a series of controversies over immigration enforcement. The final straw, as described by sources familiar with the situation, came during a congressional hearing when Noem gave a non-answer after being asked whether she was having an affair with Lewandowski. The Washington Examiner reported that Noem called the questions "tabloid garbage" and accused Democrats of attacking conservative women, but repeatedly refused to issue a clear denial.
During that hearing, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, pressed her directly:
"I really think you need to say the word no into the record so that you can clear that up."
She did not.
Noem is now reportedly planning to divorce her husband Byron, and she currently holds the title of Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas at the State Department, a soft landing after a hard fall.
Lewandowski's own exit from government carries more than reputational baggage. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the DHS internal watchdog found evidence Lewandowski "may have been involved in improperly awarding federal contracts" and was weighing a criminal referral to the Justice Department. Lewandowski has denied wrongdoing.
National Review noted that Lewandowski served in a 130-day, time-limited "special government employee" role at DHS, a designation used specifically because he could not win Senate confirmation. During that time, he allegedly insisted on personally overseeing and approving all DHS funding disbursements, causing delays that extended even to border wall projects.
Whether Trump forced Lewandowski out or Lewandowski left on his own terms remains disputed. Sources gave conflicting accounts to the Post, and neither version has been confirmed.
Lewandowski also made a powerful enemy in White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. He tried to undermine Wiles while she was running Trump's successful 2024 campaign, a move that did not go unnoticed inside the building.
One unnamed Republican strategist described Lewandowski as "smart and calculating" and said he "never fully goes away." Another source said Lewandowski "dines out" on having the president's ear, a claim that, accurate or not, keeps his consulting firm, Lewandowski Strategic Advisors, in business. The firm's value depends almost entirely on the perception that Lewandowski still has Trump's attention.
The affair allegations between Noem and Lewandowski have a long trail. AP News reported in 2021 that Noem severed ties with Lewandowski after Trump donor Trashelle Odom accused him of making unwanted sexual advances at a Las Vegas fundraising event. Odom said Lewandowski "repeatedly touched me inappropriately, said vile and disgusting things to me, stalked me, and made me feel violated and fearful." Trump's team cut Lewandowski loose at the time, with spokesman Taylor Budowich saying he "will no longer be associated with Trump World."
Yet Lewandowski came back. He always does, or at least, he always tries.
Breitbart reported that Noem denied the affair rumors at the time, calling them "total garbage and a disgusting lie." A former Noem adviser, Maggie Seidel, defended the governor's marriage but called Lewandowski "horrible" and a "bum."
That was 2021. By 2024, Noem published a memoir that drew national ridicule for a story about shooting a "dangerous" family dog. And by the time she was running DHS, New York Magazine published a cover story claiming Lewandowski, not Noem, was the real decision-maker at the department. DHS denied it, with a spokeswoman calling the piece "libelous" and insisting "all decisions are made by Secretary Noem."
One Republican strategist summed up Noem's current political standing in a single word: "Toxic."
For all Lewandowski's public maneuvering, no one has actually announced a primary challenge to Thune. Noem has not confirmed or denied plans to run. She and Lewandowski were spotted together in Minnesota this week, but being photographed at a lake is not the same as filing campaign papers.
Noem did not campaign for or endorse Larry Rhoden, her replacement as governor, in last week's Republican gubernatorial runoff, a race Rhoden won without her help. That absence raised its own questions about whether Noem is preserving her political capital for something else, or whether she simply has none left to spend.
Lewandowski's strategy appears to rest on a simple bet: that Trump's frustration with Thune over the SAVE America Act could be channeled into support for a primary challenger, and that Noem, despite everything, is the only South Dakota Republican with enough name recognition to make that race competitive.
It is a bet that requires voters to overlook a DHS watchdog probe, a firing by the president, a congressional hearing that went sideways, a tabloid trail, and a political brand that even allies describe as damaged.
Noem has since taken an advisory role in the private sector, but the political world she left behind has not stopped talking about her, largely because Lewandowski will not let it.
Thune, for his part, has been in the Senate since 2004. He won his seat by defeating the then-Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, and has survived every cycle since. He is not the kind of incumbent who panics at a podcast segment. But a 28 percent approval rating in your home state is not a number that lets you sleep easy, either, especially when the man floating your replacement has nothing left to lose.
The open questions outnumber the answers. Has the DHS watchdog referred Lewandowski's case to the Justice Department, or shelved it? Will Noem actually file for the Senate race, or is Lewandowski freelancing? Does Trump want this fight, or does Lewandowski merely want Trump to want it?
None of those questions have public answers yet. What is clear is that Lewandowski is operating in the gap between Trump's displeasure with Thune and Noem's need for a second act, and hoping he can build something in that space before either principal shuts the door.
Washington is full of people who got fired and came back. It has far fewer who got fired, drew a federal probe, and still thought they were in a position to pick the next Senate fight. Lewandowski is betting he is one of those few. South Dakota voters will decide whether that confidence is earned or borrowed.