North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, adding his name to the long list of contenders hoping to dent former President Donald Trump’s early lead in the race.
Keep scrolling for a full list of the 2024 presidential candidates
Burgum, 66, made the announcement in the The Wall Street Journal and was expected to kick off his campaign Wednesday in the city of Fargo, where he lives and which is near the tiny farm town of Arthur, where he grew up.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks at the state Capitol on April 10, 2020, in Bismarck, N.D.
Known to few outside North Dakota, Burgum faces an immense challenge in a field dominated by Trump and the better-known governor in the race, Ron DeSantis of Florida.
As evidence of Burgum’s long odds, he isn’t even the most notable candidate to announce a presidential campaign on Wednesday. Four hundred miles to the south, former Vice President Mike Pence was launching his White House bid in Iowa, taking on the president he served loyally for four years.
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Burgum, a former computer software entrepreneur, plans to visit early voting states right away. He will campaign Thursday and Friday in Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation Republican caucuses, and Saturday and Sunday in New Hampshire, which hosts the first GOP primary.
In a video previewing his announcement, Burgum portrayed himself as a common-sense, rural state conservative, distinctly experienced in energy policy and far removed from the bitter war of words between Trump and DeSantis as the 2024 GOP campaign heats up.
Coming Soon. Watch for a preview of Wednesday’s big announcement. pic.twitter.com/rvzYMr4SYc
— Doug Burgum (@DougBurgum) June 5, 2023
“Anger, yelling, infighting, that’s not going to cut it anymore,” Burgum said in the video, which features breathtaking vistas from across North Dakota. “Let’s get things done. In North Dakota, we listen with respect, and we talk things out. That’s how we can get America back on track.”
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The 2024 presidential field, in the order they’ve announced
Donald Trump, Republican
Donald Trump, Republican
Former President Donald Trump, aiming to become only the second commander-in-chief ever elected to two nonconsecutive terms, announced in November that he is seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. “In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump told a crowd gathered at Mar-a-Lago, his waterfront estate in Florida, where his campaign will be headquartered. – CNN
Nikki Haley, Republican
Nikki Haley, Republican Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, announced her candidacy for president on Feb. 14, becoming the first major challenger to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.
The announcement, delivered in a video, marked an about-face for the ex-Trump Cabinet official, who said two years ago that she wouldn’t challenge her former boss for the White House in 2024. But she changed her mind in recent months, citing, among other things, the country’s economic troubles and the need for “generational change,” a nod to the 76-year-old Trump’s age.
“You should know this about me. I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels,” Haley said. “I’m Nikki Haley and I’m running for president.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican
Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican
Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and author, launches his 2024 campaign Feb. 21.
“We’re in the middle of a national identity crisis,” his video announcement began. “Faith, patriotism and hard work have disappeared, only to be replaced by new secular religions like Covidism, climatism and gender ideology.”
He has voiced support for changing the overall U.S. voting age to 25, unless younger Americans fulfill at least six months of service in the military or as a first responder — or pass the same citizenship test administered to those seeking to become naturalized citizens.
Marianne Williamson, Democrat
Marianne Williamson, Democrat
Self-help author Marianne Williamson, whose 2020 White House campaign featured more quirky calls for spiritual healing than actual voter support, launched another longshot bid for the presidency March 4, becoming the first Democrat to formally challenge President Joe Biden for the 2024 nomination. “We are upset about this country, we’re worried about this country,” Williamson told a crowd of more than 600 at a kickoff in the nation’s capital. “It is our job to create a vision of justice and love that is so powerful that it will override the forces of hatred and injustice and fear.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Democrat
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a member of one of the country’s most famous political families who has in recent years been linked to some far-right figures, kicked off his campaign in Boston on April 19 and likened his campaign to the American revolution.
“My mission over the next 18 months of this campaign and throughout my presidency will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy is a nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of his slain brother Robert F. Kennedy.
Larry Elder, Republican
Larry Elder, Republican
Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder, who sought to replace the California governor in a failed 2021 recall effort, announced April 20 he is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Elder, 70, made the announcement on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and followed up with a tweet.
“America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That’s why I’m running for President,” he wrote.
President Joe Biden, Democrat
President Joe Biden, Democrat
President Joe Biden on April 25 formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish this job” and extend the run of America’s oldest president for another four years. Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age. He faces a smooth path to winning his party’s nomination, with no serious Democratic challengers. But he’s still set for a hard-fought struggle to retain the presidency in a bitterly divided nation.
Asa Hutchinson, Republican
Asa Hutchinson, Republican Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson formally launched his Republican presidential campaign April 26, pledging to “bring out the best of America” and aiming to draw contrasts with other GOP hopefuls on top issues, including how best to reform federal law enforcement agencies.
Hutchinson kicked off his 2024 bid in his hometown of Bentonville, on the same steps where he launched an unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign 30 years ago.
“I ran as a conservative Republican when being a Republican was like having a career-ending handicap,” Hutchinson said, adding, “And now, I bring that same vigor to fight another battle, and that battle is for the future of our country and the soul of our party.”
Tim Scott, Republican
Tim Scott, Republican
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott launched his presidential campaign May 22, offering an optimistic message he hopes can contrast the two figures who have used political combativeness to dominate the early GOP primary field: former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican, made the announcement in his hometown of North Charleston at Southern University, his alma mater and a private school affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
“Our party and our nation are standing at a time for choosing. Victimhood or victory?,” he told cheering supporters, adding, “Grievance or greatness?”
Ron DeSantis, Republican
Ron DeSantis, Republican
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign May 24 with firm words but a disastrous Twitter announcement. While he tried to project confidence, DeSantis’ unusual decision to announce his campaign in an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk ultimately backfired. The audio stream crashed repeatedly, making it virtually impossible for most users to hear the new presidential candidate in real time.
“American decline is not inevitable — it is a choice. And we should choose a new direction — a path that will lead to American revitalization,” DeSantis said on the glitchy stream, racing through his conservative accomplishments. “I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback.”
Mike Pence, Republican
Mike Pence, Republican
Former Vice President Mike Pence opened his bid for the Republican nomination for president June 7 with a firm denunciation of former President Donald Trump, accusing his two-time running mate of abandoning conservative principles and being guilty of dereliction of duty on Jan. 6, 2021.
Pence is the first vice president in modern history to challenge the president under whom he served. While he spent much of his speech, delivered at a community college in a suburb of Des Moines, criticizing Democratic President Joe Biden and the direction he has taken the country, he also addressed Jan. 6 head-on, saying Trump had disqualified himself when he declared falsely that Pence had the power to keep him in office.
Chris Christie, Republican
Chris Christie, Republican
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasted no time going after Donald Trump while launching his presidential campaign June 6, calling the former president and current Republican primary front-runner a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog” and arguing that he’s the only one who can stop him.
Kicking off his campaign with a town hall at Saint Anselm College, Christie suggested that other top Republicans have been afraid to challenge Trump or even mention his name much while campaigning — but made it clear he had no such qualms.
Doug Burgum, Republican
Doug Burgum, Republican
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a former software entrepreneur who enacted a slate of laws this year advancing conservative policies on culture war issues, highlighted his small-town roots and business experience as he announced his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on June 7.
The governor of the nation’s fourth-least populous state kicked off his campaign in Fargo, near the tiny farm town of Arthur where he grew up. “Small-town values have guided me my entire life,” Burgum told the crowd. “And frankly, big cities could use more ideas and more values from small towns right now.”
As governor of the state’s fourth-least populous state, he signed measures this year advancing conservative policies on culture war issues. They include prohibiting schools and government from requiring teachers and employees from referring to transgender people by their preferred pronouns, barring transgender girls and women from competing in women’s sports, and banning abortion with few exceptions up to six weeks’ gestation, before most women know they are pregnant.
His preview video also touched subtly on his opposition to “woke” ideology, a catch-all term that conservatives use derogatorily to refer to policies or ideas that acknowledge the existence of social injustice and racial inequality.
“I grew up in a tiny town in North Dakota,” Burgum said. “Woke was what you did at 5 a.m. to start the day.”
Burgum enters the race with a more advanced background in energy policy than most of the Republican field in light of North Dakota’s decadelong petroleum industry boom, and his administration’s effort to capture carbon dioxide from around the country.
“Instead of shutting down American oil and gas, we should unleash energy production,” he said in the video, “and start selling energy to our allies, instead of buying it from our enemies.”
In addition to Trump, DeSantis and Pence, Burgum will be facing off against former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, anti-woke activist Vivek Ramaswamy, conservative talk radio host Larry Elder and businessman Perry Johnson.
Burgum was first elected as governor in 2016, reelected in 2020 and is eligible to run for a third time in 2024. In 1983, he founded Great Plains Software, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2011, and Burgum stayed on as a Microsoft vice president until 2007.
The GOP nominee is expected to face Democratic President Joe Biden in November 2024.
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
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