North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum Jumps Into Republican Presidential Race

North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum officially announced in a speech Wednesday that he’s running for president.

The two-term governor and businessman enters the growing Republican primary field, where he will try to distinguish himself by prioritizing the “economy, energy and national security,” Burgum said in a speech in Fargo, North Dakota. Burgum touted his record as governor, his ranching and farming roots and his successful private-sector endeavors while pitching his candidacy to the crowd.

“We need new leadership for the changing economy. We need a leader who understands the real work that Americans do everyday,” said Burgum. “To unlock the best of America, we need a leader who’s clearly focused on three things: economy, energy and national security. And that is why today, I’m officially announcing I’m running for the president of the United States of America.”

Burgum filed the paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Wednesday morning to run for president. (RELATED: ‘The Guy’s Got Balls’: Meet The Little-Known Governor Who’s Expected To Jump Into The 2024 Presidential Race)

Today, America’s facing new challenges, and how we respond will define our future. We need a new leader for our changing economy.

As Governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum has cut red tape, balanced the budget, and passed the largest tax cuts in state history – and now he’s ready… pic.twitter.com/0HK5WRTft2

— Doug Burgum (@DougBurgum) June 7, 2023

Burgum inherited his family farm and mortgaged it to invest in his technology firm Great Plains Software, which he sold to Microsoft in 2001 for $1.1 billion. He then served as Microsoft’s senior vice president until 2007, founded real estate development company the Kilbourne Group in 2006 and co-founded software investment firm Arthur Ventures in 2008.

The governor had no previous political experience before running for governor in 2016, where he challenged the then-state Attorney General and former state legislator Wayne Stenehjem, who he beat for the Republican nomination by roughly 20 points, according to Ballotpedia. He overwhelmingly won both terms, beating his Democratic challengers in 2016 and 2020 by roughly 60 points and 40 points, respectively.

“When we jumped into the race in North Dakota, we were down in the poll 69% to 10%, and people literally said, ‘you can’t win, it’s less than six months into the primary in June.’ There was an established leader with 100% name recognition, and we said ‘okay, well, we’re just gonna do our thing, and we’ll see how it turns out, and of course we ended up winning the primary by 60% to 40% in a race that people six months earlier said we couldn’t win,” Burgum previously told the DCNF in an interview. “We’re undaunted by the idea that we’ve got low name recognition.”

Burgum has maintained high approval ratings throughout his governorship, entering his first and second terms with 69% and 58% support, respectively, and was ranked the fourth-most popular governor in the country in 2022, according to Morning Consult.

The governor joins a crowded GOP primary field chock-full of Republican heavyweights like former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and conservative radio personality Larry Elder.

“Today is just the start of showing how much we can achieve when we all work together,” Burgum said in his announcement speech.

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