No major news network is reporting on him; when they do, they ask, “Who is he?”
It is none other than our very own North Dakota Governor, Doug Burgum. In an interview with Pioneer Press, University of Minnesota political studies chair Larry Jacobs, said this about Burgum’s campaign, “It gets very, very expensive… and it will be humiliating for him if he’s running and receiving virtually no support. That’s what it looks like he’s heading for right now.” In fact, in an interview with ABC News Burgum himself notes that “Most of America doesn’t know who Doug Burgum is.”
Burgum blames, in part, the Republican National Committee’s requirements to qualify for the debate stage. He argues that RNC makes the presidential debates a narrow competition with their regulations. In addition to this, the debate stage takes on a performance aspect with 90 seconds to answer questions, constant interruptions, and a select few candidates chosen to speak. He told the Daily Caller, “There was a time when presidential debates actually held a tremendous amount of gravitas, because they were presidential debates — that was what they were. And now, it was kind of political theater, and now it has become reality TV, and reality TV works best when there is conflict.”
Although Doug Burgum has also heavily played into a political performance with his twenty-dollar “Biden Economic Relief Cards,” his point stands. Burgum is overlooked on the debate stage which seems to target DeSantis for most questions, in part because Burgum consistently avoids questions addressing controversial identity issues in favor of issues regarding economy and energy. In addition to this, the 90 seconds given to answer these debate questions also is geared towards quickly shooting out catchy soundbites, something that disadvantages slower-speaking Burgum in favor of candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy and his TikTok formatted campaign. These are just some of the many obstacles that Burgum faces on the campaign trail.
So, what is Burgum’s plan? In an interview with WDAY news, Doug Burgum told them, “The person that’s leading the Republican race right now is at 40%. That means 60% of the voters in those states are looking for an alternative, and we’re doing everything we can to be that alternative.” By hitting these states that are not as in favor of the leading Republican candidate, Donald Trump, Burgum hopes to garner enough support to continue his campaign up to the elections. Whether or not this strategy works, Burgum remains optimistic, claiming, “We’re up against a bunch of people that are super well known, have 100% name recognition, and we’re the least well-known, but we are the best well-liked.” Time will tell if that is true.
Kira Symington is a Dakota Student Section Editor. She can be reached at [email protected].
