WASHINGTON—South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, speaking at the Cato Institute on Feb. 16 about her tough decisions during the pandemic, said she hoped the next president would not only tackle the country’s challenging issues, but also give people hope.

Noem did not answer The Epoch Times’ question about whether she’d decided to run for President in 2024.

However, she did say, “I hope we get the best leader in the White House to lead this country, not just being willing to take on the tough issues and tough decisions, as we face some of these challenges like we’ve seen that are unprecedented, but also [a president who] gives us a little hope and a vision for the future.”

“If we lose this country, where do we go? Where do we go and have a better chance at opportunity and at freedom?” she continued, adding, “We need a leader in the White House that will do that and make the hard decisions to cast that type of vision.”

Last year, Noem told CBS that she didn’t rush into deciding because Americans are looking for people who aren’t just “talking politics” but are doing something to safeguard America’s “way of life.”

She endorsed President Donald Trump’s policies, saying they benefited her home state of South Dakota. Trump announced his 2024 presidential bid for the White House on Nov. 15, 2022.

The only other official bid launched so far is by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who launched her presidential nomination on Feb. 14.

Noem was the only governor in the country to never lock down a business in her state in the name of COVID-19. When she was elected, Noem said, she was elected as a Governor rather than as a health expert.

“I’m just a big believer that when you have leaders overstepping their authority, especially in a time of crisis, that’s when you break this country,” she said.

Since different parts of South Dakota have different environments, with more and less densely populated areas, just like every other state, Noem said, “it wasn’t appropriate for me to make mandated decisions from the state level.”

“I may have a town of 500,000 people over here that had very heavily congested areas, or families, who for generations were living in apartments, but it would be very different in a small town 200 miles away, where there were 300 people in that town, all living on ranches that were a mile or two apart,” she continued.

She was meeting with several governors when the pandemic began, but the number in attendance dropped with time. “It was a lonely time,” she recalled.

According to Noem, most governors made decisions out of fear and pressure, overstepping their power and making choices they shouldn’t have made.