Just as the clock struck midnight on the morning of November 12, 2024, CNN reported that President Donald J. Trump will appoint South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to be the Secretary of Homeland Security. Trump made it official with a statement on Tuesday evening:
I am pleased to announce that the Governor and former Congresswoman from South Dakota, Kristi Noem, will be appointed to serve as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Kristi has been very strong on Border Security. She will work closely with “Border Czar” Tom Homan to secure the Border, and will guarantee that our American Homeland is secure from our adversaries. I have known Kristi for years, and have worked with her on a wide variety of projects – She will be a great part of our mission to Make America Safe Again.
The news is a major development on the South Dakota political scene.
Noem, 52, will be the second Governor of South Dakota to resign the office and the third to leave office early. Richard F. Kneip resigned on July 24, 1978 after 7 years and 200 days as governor, forgoing the final five months of his term to accept an appointment from President Jimmy Carter as U.S. Ambassador to Singapore. George S. Mickelson died in a plane crash on April 19, 1993, 6 years and 103 days into his tenure.
Noem will be the first South Dakota official to be appointed to a President’s cabinet. Clinton P. Anderson, who served Secretary of Agriculture in the Truman administration, was a native of Centerville but had relocated years earlier to New Mexico and had been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from that state, serving from 1941-45.
Noem, who is the state’s 33rd Governor and the first woman to hold that office, will depart approximately two years into her second term, which means she will have served approximately six years as the state’s chief executive. That’s the shortest tenure for an elected governor since the 1970s, when the gubernatorial term was extended from two years to four years, but is still longer than every governor prior to 1970 (each of whom served four years or less).
Lt. Governor Larry Rhoden will succeed Noem, becoming the 34th Governor of South Dakota. He will be the third lieutenant governor to succeed to the governor’s office, following Harvey Wollman, who succeeded Governor Kneip, and Walter Dale Miller, who took office after the plane crash that killed Governor Mickelson.
The Secretary of Homeland Security is a member of the President’s cabinet – leading a department that was created during the George W. Bush administration in response to 9/11 – and requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate. At this time, the timeline for the confirmation process is unclear. President Trump will be sworn in on Monday, January 20, 2025 – it happens to be Martin Luther King Jr. Day – and he cannot officially make any appointments until he is sworn in. U.S. Senate leaders have indicated, though, that they may begin Senate confirmation hearings prior to that date; the new Congress is sworn in on Friday, January 3, 2025. The U.S. Senate could not confirm any appointments until they are officially made on January 20. (A recess appointment also could not be made until January 20.)
The timing of that process will interplay with the unfolding of the upcoming legislative session. Late last week, Governor Noem released pictures of her and her staff preparing her budget proposal for the coming session. This is typically the time of year when the Governor’s Budget is finalized, and it is set to be presented to the State Legislature when the Governor delivers her budget address on Tuesday, December 3, 2024.
The 100th Session of the South Dakota State Legislature begins on January 14, 2025, and the Governor delivers the State of the State address on that first date. Governor Noem will not have been confirmed by that date, as President Trump will not be sworn in and cannot officially make any appointments until January 20.
This creates the possibility that, as South Dakota’s 2025 legislative session unfolds, the Governor will be serving in Pierre, but awaiting confirmation for a position in D.C. Even once Noem receives an appointment, it is unlikely that she would resign until she has been confirmed by the Senate, which could mean that Lt. Governor Rhoden could succeed to the governorship mid-way through the legislative session, which would be a first in South Dakota history. The interim period between the announcement of a Noem appointment, and her resignation after being confirmed, would also create an unusual circumstance of a gubernatorial transition unfolding while the legislature is meeting.
Once sworn in, the new Governor Rhoden would be entitled to appoint a new lieutenant governor, subject to confirmation by both the Senate and the House. Assuming the state legislature is still in session, he would likely make that appointment quickly, so it could be acted upon without requiring a special legislative session. Rhoden would have had several weeks, during the transition period, to decide who to appoint.
Having a gubernatorial transition occur amidst a legislative session is not ideal, but it will be far smoother because of South Dakota’s system, in which gubernatorial nominees select their running mates, the two run as a team, and the lieutenant governor is an integral part of the governor’s administration.
Noem’s departure also would mean that plans will likely be accelerated to honor her alongside her fellow governors with an oil portrait in the State Capitol and a bronze statue on the Trail of Governors.
SoDak Governors 