New York Times
Why Kristi Noem is soaring as a Republican outlook for 2024
Pierre, South Dakota — Republicans are hungry for the next generation of national leaders, so it’s the fierce battle of veterans, even Capitol Hill visitors, that combines the spins of trumpism and homely conservatism. I’m not a state politician either. Kristi Noem, the first governor of South Dakota, is a rancher who enjoys sharing his images of shooting pheasants and riding horses. Last year, Nome began to get familiar with former President Donald Trump. She suspected she was fishing on behalf of Mike Pence on her 2020 ticket and hosted Trump at an event on Mount Rushmore on July 4. A model of the monument that contains his face. Her rebellion against the limits of the coronavirus and her enthusiasm for projecting the image of a rugged Great Plains Woman ranked second in the 2024 vote of the far-right conservatives looking for candidates if Trump wasn’t run again. became. However, her approach to politics sometimes created a rocky relationship with her base. At the end of last month, she was involved in a confrontation with a Republican-controlled state legislature over the veto of a bill banning transgender girls from participating in school sports. And when some leaders are pressured her to settle the battle, she throws herself into an unrelated skirmish on Lil Nas X’s “Satan Shoes.” I urged him to roll his eyes at home. Sign up for The New York Times The Morning Newsletter. “We are fighting for the soul of our country,” she wrote on Twitter, with a pentagram and a drop of blood on the surface. If Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is widely seen by Trump as the apparent cheeky heir, and senators like Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton are trying to put a more ideological framework into trumpism, Noem It reflects the former president’s left-triggered approach among the top tiers of 2024 candidates trying to consolidate her position as the only female Trump ally. However, she stumbled upon the transgender bill and raised some questions among social conservatives. Appearing on Fox News most of the week and spending time on Trump’s Marago funding site caused dissatisfaction in South Dakota. At home, Nome’s apparent White House ambitions plague Republicans wanting to focus her on state needs. She is now the fourth White House Chief of Staff in just over two years. He has an increasingly difficult relationship with South Dakota Senator John Thune. And rather than building relationships at the State Capitol in Pierre at the turn of the century, he has favored the National Party circuit. “Let’s focus on South Dakota now,” Republican state legislator Rhonda Milstead said in an interview between floor sessions on So-called Veto Day. “And if you’re going to run for governor in 2022, focus on our state. I think she cares about South Dakota, so I voted for her when she ran. That’s it. ”Norme’s approach is significantly different from the arcs of other modern governors, such as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who turned to president. These politicians enthusiastically held courts in the state’s Kingmaker, held their legislative achievements as calling cards for the campaign, waited until they were reelected to the Governor’s Office, and then auditioned on the national stage. .. The question is whether it was at that time. When she strengthens her already busy travel schedule — she is the keynote speaker at this month’s Kansas GOP convention and will address Arkansas Republicans in June — 49-year-old Nome is the potency of Trump-style boxing. May represent the purest test. Republican strategist and presidential politician David Kochel said: “It covers how much Fox hates me, so can I come up with something that offends Rachel Maddow and raises conservative awareness?” News at a post-Trump party Confronting the media and fighting the Left is more compelling to activists, preferably with viral video snippets, than accumulating achievement records or meticulously building coalitions. Nome, who attended the Conservative Political Activities Council in February, received a big applause that Dr. Anthony Fauci “made many mistakes.” In addition, many of the parties are likely to have Vice President Kamala Harris as president or vice president’s Democratic candidate in 2024, as Republicans lost the president and both parliaments after struggling among female voters. The president who wants to promote women to their tickets. “She is one of the most powerful examples of a great Republican woman,” said Greenis Gillio, a law student who was waiting for Nome’s signature with dozens of other CPAC attendees. “We really need that strong female conservatism to get the punch,” said Russell Olson, a former South Dakota legislator who was elected to the legislature alongside Nome in 2006. “Being a conservative woman and being able to speak without reversing the issue, it will be easier to consider in my book,” he said. Olson, who Nome has reappointed to the state game Fish and Parks Commission, isn’t the only Republican in South Dakota who is eager to stay on the good side of the governor. Many party officials and donors did not want to talk about the gnome’s political outlook on record, and many pointed out that the gnome was a small state. The governor declined the interview and, in line with her public stance, had a spokesperson email asking boldly if the story was “about next year’s reelection campaign.” Other South Dakota Republicans are quite pleased with this speculation, but not necessarily because she is eager to become president. “Love or hate her, she’s the best resource South Dakota is doing for it right now,” said state legislature leader Lee Schoenbeck. “She has such a platform.” Despite the state’s high per capita COVID deaths and the outbreak caused by the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which attracted nearly 500,000 biker enthusiasts last fall. Many South Dakota Republicans believe that South Dakota’s opposition to the shutdown contributed to South Dakota’s lowest country. Unemployment continues to attract tourists and attracts new states to transplants. I made it. Whether or not the gnome finally landed on the 2024 ticket, she made her name nationwide by recreating South Dakota as a kind of red state oasis for visitors, new residents, and businesses. I’ve been eating. She won the governor with only 3.5 percentage points. This is a slight difference in states that have not elected a Democratic governor since 1974. Her approval rate was only 39% at the end of 2019. By party officials familiar with the results. By June last year, three months after the outbreak of the virus, the same voter found that 62% of state voters had approved her performance. Nome had a relatively unobtrusive profile during his four-term term in Parliament and during his first year as governor. But by the end of 2020, she had received Trump’s notice. Trump was enthusiastic about challenging Toon in next year’s primary. She has abandoned any interest in such challenges. However, the coziness with Trump and the hiring of former president’s former campaign manager Corey Rwandowski have chilled his relationship with second-ranked Republican senator Toon. Toon makes it clear that Republicans want to focus on their ideas away from the worship of individuality. Dray Samuelson, a longtime top aide to former South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson, said: Nome clearly sees her opening as a provocateur of Trump in the prairie. In addition to her ubiquity on Fox News, one segment featured escorting network contributors at the state’s annual Buffalo Roundup. And it’s not just about vandalizing rappers. “This is how to increase social distance in South Dakota,” she wrote a clip that was played nearly 7 million times on top of a video that shot and killed a nearby pheasant. She also appeared in tourism commercials aired nationwide during the COVID surge last year. When the image of Mount Rushmore and the bison sprinting flashed on the screen, Nome said, “We have an opportunity, and it will always be.” It’s hard to exaggerate the importance of marketing to South Dakota. At the confluence of the Midwest and the West, the state diverged by the Missouri River was relentlessly promoted by another ambitious governor, Peter Noveck, in the early 20th century to develop a granite monument in the Black Hills. Since then, I have been dependent on the tourism industry. It can seduce visitors to the area. Nome has shown a similar passion for destinations in the state, the most striking mix of tourism and politics by showing off fireworks on Mount Rushmore last year to allow Trump to seduce. I am. South Dakota also beats more prominent tourist pit stops such as pheasant hunting, walleye pollock fishing, Wall Drug and Mitchell Corn Palace. “There aren’t many industries in South Dakota, and there aren’t many natural resources that can be pumped or mined from the ground. Therefore, if you’re basically in a dilapidated state, you need them. State dollars. “. Ted Hasted, a family-owned Wall Drug store, is a major tourist attraction with a collection of Western-themed stores and restaurants. That need is a vise for gnomes over transgender law. She initially said she would support the bill. However, she reversed the course after facing a backlash from South Dakota’s influential business community. It was worried that the National Collegiate Athletic Association would withdraw the money-making basketball tournament from the state. Nome was pressured by Tucker Carlson about her change of mind in a rare hostile Fox News interview, and Flap fueled suspicion among social conservatives. “She says whatever she thinks she needs to say,” said a state councilor who pressured Nome to disclose details of the state money she spends on her frequent trips for safety. Tuffy Howard said. “This was all about keeping her donor happy.” The House of Representatives overturned the partial veto of Nome’s trance bill, but the State Senate refused to take action and ruined the legislation. Nome, who is conservatively running for re-election with Trump’s support, should be in a good position next year. However, South Dakota has a history of spurring politicians when they became more national than rural. “Tom Dashless and George McGovern are examples of what happens if you’re not careful at home. Former loser to Gnome in the Governor’s primary, alluding to two of South Dakota’s most famous figures. State Attorney General Marty Jackley said that Olson, a former parliamentary colleague of Nome, nevertheless expects Nome to be a formidable candidate if he runs for president. He learned his lessons after running for South Dakota’s only house seat in 2010 and assisting primary opponents when he ran for governor in 2018. This article was originally written. Published in New York Times © 2021 The New York Times Company