South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who gained a national profile due to his refusal to order an economic shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday in Orlando, Florida.
Noem began her career in the South Dakota state legislature before being elected as the only South Dakota member of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2011.
She served as a US congressman from South Dakota until 2019, when she became the state’s first governor.
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Noem aligned himself closely with ex-President Donald Trump and was one of the main substitutes for his reelection campaign in 2020.
ARCHIVE – In this January 8, 2019 archive photo, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem gives his first state speech in Pierre, SD. While many other governors broke with President Donald Trump on orders to stay home to contain the spread of the coronavirus or when economic activity resumes, Noem followed closely with the president. (AP Photo / James Nord, Archive)
After the election, Noem supported Trump’s unfounded contests of the results and continued to cast doubts about the election, even after President Joe Biden was sworn in, although she attended the inauguration.
“I think we deserve fair and transparent elections,” she said on January 28. “I think a lot of people have doubts about that.”
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After the Capitol riot on January 6, Noem wrote in an article for The Federalist that the events were “unacceptable” but did not blame Trump for the demonstrators’ actions.
She also criticized the GOP and exposed her vision for the party’s future.
“Republicans had a chance to deliver on what the American people promised. But we didn’t move forward,” she wrote in The Federalist, two days after the turmoil.
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“The Republican Party exists to fight for America and for all Americans,” she continued. “The challenge before us is to continue to be the only nation in the history of the world where anyone, regardless of their position at birth, can do anything for themselves.”
Noem was singled out by some experts as a potential candidate for the presidency in 2024, but she systematically denied any interest in running.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.