As Doug Burgum hits Iowa campaign spots, Trump’s charges and long climb loom

DES MOINES, Iowa — Three days into his launch as a 2024 presidential candidate, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has spent most of his time on the campaign trail introducing Iowans to his economy-focused message face to face while avoiding controversies surrounding culture wars or his GOP rivals.

But as he brought his pro-business, pro-energy message to a suburban GOP club, pork expo and a diner northeast of Des Moines on Friday, June 9, a major development broke in the contest for who will become the Republican nominee.

News that Republican frontrunner Donald Trump faces a 37-count federal indictment for mishandling classified documents came as Burgum visited his last public campaign stop on Friday — Taylor’s Maid-Rite. It’s a common presidential campaign stop in Marshalltown known for its “loose meat” sandwiches called Maid-Rites — an

Iowa tradition

with roots nearly 100 years old.

Burgum has avoided mentioning Trump by name or commenting on the case, but offered comment on the indictment after grabbing a meal with First Lady Kathryn Burgum and chatting with voters at the Maid-Rite lunch counter Friday.

The governor suggested to reporters that some might question whether the charges facing Trump were politically motivated, though stopped short of saying whether he personally thought the ex-president was being targeted for political reasons.

“These are serious charges. But ask American voters, the people we’re talking to, they’ve got serious concerns about whether or not there’s trust in American institutions,” he said, later adding: “I try to focus, like I said, on the signal, not the noise, and I’ll leave those judgments to analysts.”

In the lead-up to his June 7 announcement and in his first days campaigning, Burgum has avoided taking shots at his Republican rivals, including Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The only 2024 candidate he’s mentioned is Democratic President Joe Biden, who Burgum has criticized.

When he ran for North Dakota governor in 2016, Burgum endorsed Trump.

It’ll be harder to avoid conversations around his rivals if Burgum gains momentum in the race.

If he wants to make it to the primaries, let alone the first Republican debate at the end of the summer, Burgum has a long climb in the coming weeks. He faces a crowded field of GOP hopefuls for president – many with much greater name recognition.

The key may be leveraging his familiarity with agriculture and small-town American life with voters in the key early primary season states of Iowa and New Hampshire, which are rural and demographically similar to North Dakota.

On Thursday, his first day in Iowa, the governor said the state felt “like home,” though with more people.

Another way Burgum has differed from many other GOP candidates is his sticking to the economy as an issue and avoiding cultural controversies like abortion and drugs and surgery for transgender minors. He’s signed laws restricting both but says the issue is best left to the states and avoids discussing his personal views on the matters.

The initial days of Burgum’s campaign are booked with lots of smaller events with plenty of face-to-face interaction with voters — something called “retail politics” in the campaign business. Many who interacted with him Friday said they enjoyed his personable, understated style.

“I like him … He’s not a politician,” said Don Short, co-owner of Maid-Rite, an establishment that has seen many presidential candidates come through its doors over the years.

Burgum got a lot of face time with voters Friday as he gave short speeches at a conservative breakfast club and farm equipment business in the north Des Moines suburbs and visited the International Pork Expo at the Iowa State Fair Grounds.

When he wasn’t chatting with potential voters or making his short speech pitching his candidacy, Burgum worked to display his small-town, down-to-earth credentials, whether it was by explaining the workings of a Fargo-built Case IH tractor to reporters or flipping pork chops on the grill at the expo.

But Burgum, relatively unknown on the national level, isn’t just meeting voters face to face. He’s got more than $2 million dollars in broadcast ad buys set to hit the airwaves in both Iowa and New Hampshire starting Tuesday.

The wealthy, one-time software executive turned real estate developer and later governor is more than capable of funding campaign activities himself, but his money alone won’t give him the platform of the first GOP presidential debate in Milwaukee, which would give him a chance to appear next to other candidates before a national audience.

In order to make the debate, candidates must secure 40,000 individual donors and poll above 1% in three national polls or two national polls and a state poll. That threshold could be make-or-break for the governor, political commentators have observed. 

Burgum said he expects to spend “a lot of time” in Iowa during the summer, fall and early winter, when the Iowa caucuses happen.

Burgum was scheduled to spend the weekend in New Hampshire where he’ll continue making campaign stops. Saturday morning he’s scheduled to attend a clay target shoot and Flag Day picnic in the Manchester area hosted by a Republican committee for the state’s most populous county.

On Sunday he’s scheduled to visit a diner and cafe and wrap up the day meeting with Republicans in Concord.