Doug Burgum, the 33rd governor of North Dakota, has emerged from being a long-shot challenger to sitting at the top of a short list of possible running mates for Donald Trump. Burgum has presented himself as a businessman with a strong showing of loyalty to the former president.
With an official announcement expected for July’s Republican National Convention, the Trump campaign has requested vetting materials from a short list of vice presidential contenders, including Burgum. The governor has repeatedly expressed his support for the former president, appearing in court during his hush money trial, and criticizing the policies of President Joe Biden.
Burgum was born on August 1, 1956. He is 67 years old.
Burgum was born in Arthur, North Dakota, a town surrounded by canola fields with a population of only 325. Burgum started working as a chimney sweep, climbing the rooftops of Fargo in a traditional black felt hat and frock coat. He attended North Dakota State University for his undergraduate education before receiving a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford.
Fresh out of graduate school, Burgum moved to Chicago to work for the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, before moving into tech. Settling back in North Dakota, he mortgaged his own farmland to become the majority shareholder and eventual president of Great Plains Software.
Turning the struggling business from a local accounting firm into a multinational software company, Burgum began raking in an annual $300 million dollars and established an IPO in 1997. In 2001, Burgum sold the company to Microsoft for $1.1 Billion.
In 2016, Burgum became the 33rd governor of North Dakota. Running as a Republican with political experience, he received 75% of the vote and was reelected for a second term in 2020.
Burgum took the national stage in 2024 as a Republican candidate for president, painting himself as a “world class business leader” with a “small town upbringing.” After failing to qualify for the third presidential debate, Burgum suspended his long-shot campaign. He spent $14 million over the course of his six-month-long campaign.
His wife, Kathryn Burgum, works on behalf of “Recovery Reinvented,” a program dedicated to supporting victims of substance abuse. He has three children.
With a net worth estimated by Forbes at more than $100 million, Burgum entered the 2024 presidential race as one of its most affluent candidates.
Burgam has been a leading advocate of the American oil and natural gas industry. Similarly, he has shared harsh criticism of Biden’s energy policies, believing Biden’s emphasis on green energy and increased oil and natural gas regulation to be harmful to Americans.
A supporter of the Dakota Access Pipeline, Burgum sought to bolster North Dakota’s economy through large investments in oil, coal, and natural gas.
In contrast, Burgum has expressed his desire to cut carbon emissions down to zero — proposing in 2021 his goal for North Dakota to be “carbon neutral” by 2030.
As governor, Burgum signed into law a ban on abortions after six weeks of conception in 2023, regardless of circumstances. While not a supporter of a national abortion ban, he is an avid supporter of the decision which overturned Roe v. Wade. He believes the issue of abortion should be left to the states to decide.
During his presidential campaign, Burgum expressed himself as an avid supporter of Ukraine. Describing the situation in Eastern Europe as “an example of when deterrence failed,” he has condemned Biden’s handling of the situation as having “greenlighted Putin moving into Ukraine.”
Burgum further considers China to be America’s greatest threat abroad, saying, “We are in a Cold War with China, we just won’t admit it.”
The Republican governor supports increased regulation and law enforcement activity at the southern border. Blaming Biden for the spike in illegal immigration, Burgum has sent members of the North Dakota National Guard to the southwest in order to deter illegal immigration.
Believing avenues of legal immigration should be encouraged, Burgum created the Office of Legal Immigration within the North Dakota Department of Commerce. With this organization, he hopes to improve struggling businesses with the help of a foreign workforce.
“Well, on a standpoint of guns, [I’m] a lifetime hunter, lifetime gun owner,” Burgum said in 2023. He is quite proud of his ‘A’ rating from the NRA and has touted the importance of the Second Amendment in North Dakota.
“Both my mom and dad were hunters,” he has said. “The first gun I had was an Ithaca 16-gauge shotgun that came down from [my mother].”
While hesitant in mentioning Trump during his short-lived campaign, in 2023, Burgum was asked if he would ever engage in business with the former president.
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“I don’t think so,” he said. “I just think that it’s important that you’re judged by the company you keep.”
Burgum has since retracted these comments. He now cites an increased respect for the former president after having “a chance to travel with him … a chance to see him, meet the real person.”