BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — For most of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s two terms, he approached his job like a CEO running a business.
The wealthy former software executive, now shortlisted to become Donald Trump’s running mate, was focused on priorities such as strengthening the state’s economy and cutting taxes. He mostly avoided, and sometimes pushed back on, social issues that animated many fellow Republicans.
In 2020, Burgum criticized an anti-LGBTQ resolution from the state GOP as “hurtful and divisive rhetoric.” He vetoed a 2021 measure to ban transgender girls from playing on girls’ public school teams, saying it would “needlessly inject the state into a local problem by instituting a ban with myriad unforeseen consequences.” In 2023, Burgum vetoed a bill that he said would have turned teachers into “pronoun police.”
But as Burgum prepared a bid for the presidency that spring, he also signed a stack of bills imposing restrictions on transgender people, including two that were nearly identical to the sports ban he vetoed in 2021. Another bill banned gender-affirming medical treatments for children, and he signed a measure with provisions nearly identical to parts of the pronoun bill he vetoed earlier in 2023. Burgum also signed a book ban bill, although he vetoed a second, more far-reaching version. Opponents criticized both bills for focusing on LGBTQ issues.
While conservatives cheered, others close to Burgum — who applaud what they call his independent streak and inclusiveness as a leader — said the 2023 signing of the bill was disappointing and marked a shift as the governor emerged onto the national stage. Some saw Burgum’s willingness to support the measures as an attempt to gain traction among Republicans as he eyes 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, and not to promote social issues.
“Social issues don’t help move the needle — economic development, quality of life … in his words, ‘treating the taxpayers like customers,'” she said. “I think it’s, you know, that business model mentality of ‘It doesn’t matter who comes in, 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 spots.” He also lamented the time and energy spent on social issues as “a missed opportunity.”
“I talk to real people, I create real jobs, I build real businesses and I hire people. Some of the things that the legislature focuses on are not what the citizens focus on,” Burgum said.
Caedmon Marx of Bismarck testified repeatedly against the anti-trans bills when they were before the legislature. Marx saw Burgum as a more center-of-the-political figure who had the best interests of North Dakota at heart.
“After the last session, it was someone with his own interests in mind and his own political gain,” said Marx, whose friend, a transgender man, moved to Minnesota earlier this year because of the new laws.
Who is Doug Burgum?
Burgum, 67, grew up in tiny Arthur, North Dakota. After earning a master’s degree in business administration from the Stanford University 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 has led other real estate development and venture capital companies.
When he launched his bid 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 had a vision of “reinventing” government as the state faced a $1 billion revenue shortfall that depleted reserves. He defeated North Dakota’s longtime attorney general in the Republican Party primaries, a major setback.
Burgum is a policy wonk who can speak at length on issues that matter to him—his recent State of the State address lasted two hours—such as promoting carbon capture or reducing regulations. Sometimes he visibly chokes up when discussing serious topics, such as his wife Kathryn’s recovery from addiction.
He’s a big fan of North Dakota State University football and might throw in a so-called dad joke in a speech. But people who worked with him as governor say he’s also extremely eager to learn and works long hours.
When former policy adviser Sean Cleary was dating his current wife in 2019, he would sometimes return to the Capitol after their dates to work for a few hours until 11 p.m. or midnight, he said.
Former Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford recalled a late-night meeting where Burgum looked at him and others in the room at 1 a.m. and said enthusiastically, “Isn’t this fun, doing the work for North Dakota?”
Shifting the focus of business
Typically, Burgum advocated business-oriented priorities: income tax cuts, updates to state government websites, cybersecurity improvements, raising capital for the state and restarting the early budget process with state agencies.
He has touted a data-driven approach to problems and often talks about “innovation over regulation.”
Burgum took office during the often chaotic protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline, the controversial project long opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Sanford said Burgum showed courage and listened amid the controversy, inviting the tribal chairman to his office and hosting a listening session about the tribe’s reservation. In 2019, he announced the display of tribal flags at the entrance to the Governor’s Capitol, a legislative measure that has been in place for years.
North Dakota’s finances are currently healthy. The 2020 census found the state to be one of the fastest growing. North Dakota 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 has focused more on social issue legislation in recent years, passing more such bills than in previous sessions. The North Dakota Legislature only meets for a regular session in odd-numbered years.
Last year, two book ban bills passed the legislature. He signed one that targeted “explicit sexual material” in public libraries’ children’s collections and required those libraries to create policies for reviewing their collections, with a “compliance report” for lawmakers. But he vetoed the other bill, which he said went too far in “criminalizing potential disagreements” over certain content and left no 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 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. North Dakota’s ban bans abortion with some exceptions: in cases of rape or incest up to six weeks of 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 litigation. Burgum has not spoken out on abortion or transgender issues.
“Why did you do it?”
After the state GOP’s anti-LGBTQ resolution gained traction 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 try to keep the resolution out of policy and ensure that North Dakota “remains an open and inclusive state, because that’s one of the values that he has,” Boschee said. Burgum also shared personal stories about LGBTQ people he knows who have had a positive impact on him, Boschee said, calling it a good conversation.
But during the 2023 session, as Burgum planned his presidential campaign, Boschee said he felt “the independence that many of us admired in him” was disappearing.
“He had to strengthen that foundation,” Boschee said. “When you go to the national stage, you know, other people don’t know that nuance. They would see him sign and he could say he did these things if he wanted to say it out loud.”
Burgum does not appear to have run for president on those bills, or touted them at rallies: “So why did you do it?” Boschee said. “Was it to get into the lane so you didn’t have to worry about that, and now you can back it up if you need to?”
The authentic Doug Burgum begins his speech with gratitude, then delves 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 for, which makes it extremely disappointing to see the man he has become in the last few months,” in the “way he has now attached himself to Donald Trump,” Boschee said.
