Governor Doug Burgum, the Republican governor of North Dakota who has risen from a chimney sweep to become one of the richest men in the state, announced his campaign for president on Wednesday, entered an increasingly crowded race where he faced extremely long odds.
“We need a new leader for a changing economy,” Burgum wrote in an essay in the Wall Street Journal focused heavily on his business acumen. He is due to appear at an event around noon in Fargo, ND
The size of the field signals that former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican front-runner, has not spooked many challengers. But he also hasn’t fully consolidated the support behind his candidacy, and many opponents seem to see the path to the nomination, no matter how narrow it may be.
As leader of his bold red state, Mr. Burgum oversaw a period of significant economic expansion and promoted staunchly conservative policies.
This year, Mr. Burgum signed into law a near-total ban on abortion and created significant restrictions on transgender care, including banning any requirement that a teacher or school administrator learn to use the student’s preferred pronoun.
He is the second incumbent governor to enter the race, after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has introduced aggressive conservative social policy views and drawn national attention to corporations. as big as Disney.
However, Mr. Burgum’s aides say he is planning a campaign that is less focused on social issues and more focused on the state’s business background and financial management, including cuts both local property taxes and state income taxes. He is expected to emphasize the economy, energy and national security during his first campaign, considering the current debate too focused on social issues rather than concerns. largest number of voters.
In a recent interview Speaking to the editorial board of Fargo Forum, a local news agency, Mr. Burgum said he believes 60% of American voters have been left out when political debates are dominated.
“All the engagement right now is happening on the edge,” he said. “There’s definitely a hunger for some alternatives right now.”
Despite rarely appearing in the national media, Mr. Burgum was able to weather debates over energy policy, providing an opportunity to see how he might shape his proposals. himself in contrast to the proposals of his Republican opponents and President Biden. March, brother told Fox News that the Biden administration’s economic plan “has nothing to do with economics, it has nothing to do with physics, and it has nothing to do with common sense.” He argues that Japan and other Asian countries are ripe markets for US energy exports.
On Monday, his campaign sought to tackle his meager national name recognition problem with a flashy bio video in which the governor tells his life story, set in the energy fields and bluffs of North Dakota.
His campaign confidence that he can rise from a relatively unknown candidate to a legitimate candidate stems from his own political career in North Dakota. When Mr. Burgum announced his candidacy for governor in 2016, he was an outsider with few names outside of Fargo, and his main rival, Wayne Stenehjem, the state attorney general, received the endorsement of Mr. North Dakota Republican Party.
But with ample resources and a right-wing campaign – Mr. Burgum endorsed Donald J. Trump as president. in May 2016 – he went to win by 20 percentage points The Bismarck Court declared “supported the founding of the Republican Party of North Dakota.” He hasn’t been seriously challenged in North Dakota since.
“It’s always worth being underrated,” Mr. Burgum told the Fargo . Forum. “It’s a competitive advantage.”
As one of the few candidates not from the East Coast and with a deep education in the rural Midwest, Mr. Burgum will likely focus most of his efforts on Iowa, a state with a farming community. wide. Mr. Burgum grew up in Arthur, ND, a town of just 300 people, where his family owned the only grain elevator.
While attending North Dakota State University as an undergraduate, Mr. Burgum started a chimney sweep service in Fargo from a friend’s pickup truck. His start-up business caught the attention of local newspapers, which published pictures of a soot-covered Mr. Burgum jumping from roof to roof, picked up about $40 per chimney.
Mr. Burgum attached those newspaper clippings to his business school application, and he quickly enrolled at Stanford Business School. After earning his MBA at Stanford, Mr. Burgum joined Great Plains Software, a Fargo company specializing in accounting software, and quickly rose to the position of chief executive officer.
A far cry from the more fertile tech hubs of Silicon Valley, Mr. Burgum built Great Plains Software into an industry giant, eventually selling it to Microsoft for $1.1 billion. He then served as senior vice president of Microsoft until 2007.
Mr. Burgum’s net worth is in the nine figures, certainly enough to help fund a nascent presidential run, and his aides expect his business network to also help attract major sponsors. But since the start of his campaign, no super PACs or outside groups have emerged in favor of Mr. Burgum’s candidacy.
