BISMARCK, ND. For the most part North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum After two terms, he approached the role like a CEO running a company.
The wealthy former software executive, now in a list to be Donald Trump’s running mate, he was focused on priorities such as strengthening the state’s economy and reducing taxes. He mostly avoided the social issues that animated many Republican colleagues and sometimes dismissed them.
In 2020, Burgum criticized an anti-LGBTQ resolution from the state Republican Party as “harmful and divisive rhetoric.” He vetoed the 2021 measure banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ public school teams, saying it would “unnecessarily inject the state into a local issue by creating a ban with numerous unforeseen consequences.” In 2023, Burgum vetoed a bill that he said would turn teachers into “pronoun police.”
But how did Burgum prepare a candidacy for president that spring, he also signed a bundle of bills which imposed restrictions on trans people — including two which were nearly identical to the sports ban he vetoed in 2021. Another bill gender affirmation ban medical treatments for children, and he signed a measure which had provisions nearly identical to parts of the pronouns bill he vetoed in early 2023. Burgum also signed a book ban bill, although he vetoed a second, more far-reaching one. Opponents criticized both bills for targeting LGBTQ themes.
While conservatives applauded, others close to Burgum — who applaud what they call his independent and inclusive streak as a leader — said the 2023 bill signatures were disappointing and marked a shift as the governor entered the national stage. Some saw Burgum’s willingness to support the measures as an attempt to gain traction among Republicans as he planned a presidential campaign, or as a response to action in other GOP-led states.
State Rep. Emily O’Brien, a moderate Republican who opposed the bills but supported Burgum’s presidential bid, said it was shocking that Burgum signed them because of his business mentality of “trying to move the needle” and improve government, not push social issues.
“Social issues are not helping to move the needle – economic development, quality of life… in her words, ‘treating taxpayers like customers,’” she said. “I think it’s, you know, that business model mentality of ‘No matter who walks in the door, you treat them with respect.’”
Burgum, through a spokesperson, declined an interview request for this story. He told The Bismarck Tribune after the 2023 session — Burgum’s last regular legislative session as governor — that with Republicans holding enough seats in the state Legislature to override his vetoes, he had to “pick his seats.” He also lamented the time and energy spent on social issues as “a missed opportunity.”
“I talk to real people, creating real jobs, building real companies and hiring people, and some of the things that the Legislature is focused on are not what the citizens are focused on,” Burgum said.
Caedmon Marx of Bismarck has repeatedly testified against anti-trans bills when they have been before the Legislature. Previously, Marx viewed Burgum as a political insider who had North Dakota’s best interests in mind.
“After the last session, this was someone with his own interests in mind and his own political gain,” said Marx, whose boyfriend, a transgender man, moved to Minnesota earlier this year because of the new laws.
Burgum, 67, grew up in tiny Arthur, North Dakota. After earning a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Burgum went on to lead Great Plains Software. In 2001, Microsoft acquired the company for $1.1 billion, and Burgum remained vice president until 2007. He led other companies in real estate development and venture capital.
When he launched his run for governor in 2016, Burgum’s announcement — like other speeches he gives — felt like a TED talk, complete with a slideshow and no lectern. Burgum pursued a vision of “reinventing” government as the state faced a billion-dollar revenue shortfall that drained reserves. He defeated North Dakota’s longtime attorney general in the Republican primary, a huge upset.
Burgum is a policy wonk who can speak at length on issues important to him — his recent State of the State address lasted two hours — like advancing carbon capture or reducing regulations. He sometimes visibly chokes up when discussing serious topics, such as his wife Kathryn’s recovery from addiction.
He is a huge North Dakota State University football fan and can fit a dad joke into a speech. But people who worked with him as governor say he is also extremely curious and works long hours.
When former political adviser Sean Cleary was dating his now-wife in 2019, he would sometimes return to the Capitol after meetings to work for a few hours until 11 p.m. or midnight, he said.
Former Lt. Governor Brent Sanford recalled a late-night meeting in which Burgum looked at him and others in the room at 1 a.m. and said enthusiastically, “Isn’t it fun to do work for North Dakota?”
For the most part, Burgum advocated for business-oriented priorities: income tax cuts, updates to state government websites, cybersecurity improvements, attracting capital to the state and reorganizing the initial budget process with state agencies.
He advocates a data-driven approach to problems and often talks about “innovation rather than regulation.”
Burgum took office during the often chaotic protests of Dakota Access Pipeline, the controversial project long opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Sanford said Burgum demonstrated courage and listening amid the controversy, inviting the tribal chairman to his office and organizing a listening session on the tribal reservation. In 2019, he announced the display of tribal flags near the entrance to the governor’s office at the state Capitol, a legislative effort for years.
Today, North Dakota’s finances are healthy. The 2020 census considered the state one of the fastest growing. North Dakota was tied with South Dakota for the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. at 2% in May.
Burgum has had to work with a Legislature that in recent years has focused more on social issues legislation and has passed more such bills than in previous sessions. The North Dakota legislature meets in regular sessions only in odd-numbered years.
Two book ban projects were approved in the Legislature last year. He signed an agreement that targeted “explicit sexual material” in public libraries’ children’s collections and required those libraries to have policies for reviewing their collections, with a “compliance report” to lawmakers. But he vetoed the other bill, which he said went too far by “criminalizing possible disagreements” about certain content, and he didn’t have money for libraries to review their materials.
In 2023, Burgum also signed one of the strictest abortion bans in the US. The bill largely revised or reorganized North Dakota’s numerous abortion laws following the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. North Dakota’s ban bans abortion with few exceptions: in cases of rape or incest up to six weeks into pregnancy, or to prevent death or “a serious health risk” to the mother.
That law and the ban on gender-affirming care for children are both the subject of ongoing legal proceedings. Burgum has not been outspoken about abortion or transgender issues.
After the state Republican Party’s anti-LGBTQ resolution gained attention in 2020, Burgum called the state’s first openly gay lawmaker, then the House minority leader, to say he disagreed with it.
Democratic state Rep. Josh Boschee said Burgum told him he would work to keep the resolution out of politics and to ensure North Dakota remains “an open and inclusive state, because that’s one of the values he has,” Boschee said. Burgum also shared personal stories about LGBTQ people he knows who have had a positive impact on him, said Boschee, who called the conversation a good one.
But during the 2023 session, as Burgum was planning his presidential campaign, Boschee said he felt “the independence that I think many of us admired in him” was slipping away.
“He had to strengthen that foundation,” Boschee said. “When you’re going on the national stage, you know, other people wouldn’t know that nuance. I would do these things if I wanted to say them out loud.”
Burgum does not appear to have run for president based on these projects or praised them at rallies, “so that’s why you did it?” Boschee said. “It was to get into orbit so you wouldn’t have to worry about it, and now you can stay behind it if you need to?”
The authentic Doug Burgum begins a speech with gratitude before diving into energy and tax policy, he said.
“I have a lot of positive things to say about Governor Burgum because of the man I know him to be, which makes it extremely disappointing to see the man he has become over the last few months,” in “the way he has latched onto Donald Trump now ” said Boschee.
