Former President Donald Trump had a busy weekend, including a rally in South Dakota and appearances in Iowa, as his campaign to be the Republican 2024 presidential candidate heats up.
Amid all this, did the GOP frontrunner find his running mate?
Trump already said last year that his former Vice President Mike Pence, won’t be running with him again. This summer, Pence – who is vying to be the GOP candidate himself – criticized Trump and said his economic plan is “identical” to current Democrat President Joe Biden’s.
Late last month, Trump said that Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman who is also in the pool of GOP candidate hopefuls would be a “very good” pick as a running mate.
Ramaswamy may have some competition in South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who gave her endorsement for Trump Friday. Last August, former GOP Communications Director Tara Setmayer hinted that Trump would likely pick a woman as his next running mate.
“He is the leader, the fighter that our country needs,” Noem said Friday during the rally, according to an Axios report. The outlet described her as a “close ally” of Trump and noted that she has already said she would say yes if he asked her to be his vice president.
“We will fight together, we will win together and then we will seek justice together,” said Trump to the crowd at the Rapid City, S.D., rally. At least one of the people cheering him on could be seen holding a “Trump/Noem” sign.
According to her website, Noem, 51, is a rancher, farmer and small business owner. She is also The New York Times bestselling author of “Not My First Rodeo: Lessons Learned From the Heartland”.
Noem served in the South Dakota legislature for several years before she was elected to serve as South Dakota’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She became the first woman elected as the state’s governor in 2018.
At that time, Noem ran on a “platform of protecting South Dakotans against tax increases, government growth, federal intrusion, and government secrecy,” and she was then re-elected in 2022. Axios said that Noem gained national recognition for keeping her state open during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This March, the outlet also compiled a list of other potential running mates for Trump. This list included Noem, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, former Trump administration White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina.
Haley is also running to be the GOP presidential candidate, and has said that there should be mental exams for politicians over age 75. Trump is 77.