The Republican National Convention opens in Milwaukee tomorrow, on July 15, 2024. Former President Donald J. Trump, who narrowly survived an assassination attempt on Saturday, will become only the ninth American to be nominated three times by his party for President. His is the first serious comeback bid by a former president since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.
The Convention could also make political history in South Dakota or in North Dakota.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem will address the convention in prime time on Monday, June 15. For a time, she was seen as a leading contender to be Trump’s running mate. Though speculation has shifted away from her in the past month or two, media outlets this weekend speculate that she is once again under consideration. (See here and here.)
Last fall, when Trump headlined a South Dakota Republican Party fundraiser at Noem’s request, this blog considered the historical significance such a nomination would have for South Dakota. The only native South Dakotan to be nominated for vice president was Hubert H. Humphrey, a native of Doland and Huron who was a U.S. Senator from Minnesota when he was elected in 1964 on a ticket with President Lyndon B. Johnson.
U.S. Senator George S. McGovern of South Dakota was the Democratic nominee for President in 1972. He lost in a landslide to President Richard Nixon, not even carrying South Dakota as Nixon carried forty-nine states.
No South Dakota official has ever been nominated for vice president, and no South Dakota official has ever been elected on a national ticket. Governor Noem has the potential to set both milestones. And, if she is elected vice president, or accepts some other role in the Trump administration, Lt. Governor Larry Rhoden would become the 34th Governor of South Dakota, making him the third lieutenant governor to succeed to the Governor’s Office.
Another contender to be Trump’s running mate is North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. Burgum became the first North Dakotan to seek the presidency when he launched a long-shot bid for the Republican nomination last summer. At that time, this blog looked at the (non-existent) history of North Dakotans running for president, as well as the slightly more significant history of South Dakotans seeking the White House, or at least considering it.
Burgum obviously didn’t win the Republican nomination, but his candidacy apparently won favorable attention from Former President Trump, and the North Dakota governor has been included on many speculative “short lists” in recent weeks.
Donald Trump is assured to make history this week. It remains to be seen if South Dakota history – or North Dakota history – are made as well.
Update: In the end it was not to be for the Dakotas, as Trump selected U.S. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate. Governor Noem and Governor Burgum are both likely, though, to be considered for any number of high-level positions should Trump prevail in November.
SoDak Governors 