CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has seen an uptick in support for his 2024 presidential run.
Burgum declared his candidacy for president during a speech in Fargo, North Dakota, in June. Seen as an underdog, the incumbent governor has two things going for him that could help him in his race for the White House: He is a sitting governor, which is the most common resume builder for previous presidents, and he has money.
His biggest disadvantage in the race is that 99.8% of Americans don’t know who he is, The New York Times reported.
The presidential hopeful faces a populated GOP primary, including former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and most recently, current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen by many as the previous president’s biggest competition.
An unlikely pick, polls now show Burgum at 6% after previously polling less than 1%, beating out bigger names like Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence. He is now polling at the same level as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who took a jab at Burgum about his lack of name recognition just last month.
But not being very well-known is not new to Burgum. In fact, during his race for governor, most people didn’t know who he was. His 2016 election victory was a major upset, beating out former North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem by more than 20 points after he was able to significantly outspend him while campaigning, according to the NYT.
So, who is Burgum and where did his fortune originate?
Before Burgum was elected, he had not held elected office. In fact, he was a wealthy software entrepreneur. During the election, the NYT reported that the two-term governor benefited from Trump’s anti-establishment campaign message that influenced Republican voters to elect outsiders.
Burgum had humble beginnings as a shoeshine and chimney sweep. He lost his father when he was a freshman in high school. For college, he traveled to Stanford, California, where he earned a master’s degree in business administration.
After graduating from Stanford, Burgum returned to his home state of North Dakota, where he bought a stake in a fledgling financial software company, the NYT reported. In order to afford it, he mortgaged farmland that he had inherited. His company went public in 1997 and then was sold to Microsoft in 2001 for about $1.1 billion, the NYT reported.
Burgum maintained his business antics and founded two additional businesses: Kilbourne Group and Arthur Ventures.
As governor, Burgum has supported fossil fuels and carbon capture. One of his goals was to get North Dakota to carbon neutrality by 2030, the NYT reported.
In the past year, the governor signed eight anti-transgender laws and a ban on transition care for minors. He also signed one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans in April, contrasting himself with DeSantis.
Unlike DeSantis, Burgum defended face masks during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and even vetoed a bill that would have prohibited state officials from mandating them.
And while most people don’t know who he is, Burgum is determined to make sure that by August, Americans know who he is.
The two-term governor has found creative ways to meet fundraising requirements to qualify for the first Republican presidential debate next month.
Burgum has just cleared the 40,000-donor requirement to hit the RNC debate state in August. He reached that goal by giving out $20 VISA and Mastercard gift cards that he called, “Biden economic relief cards,” in exchange for $1 donations.
During his announcement, he said the country needs new leadership and he is not deterred by his initial low polling numbers and the large lead that Trump and DeSantis have over the other candidates in the race.
In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, he said that fixing the economy would be his top priority as president. He pointed to his record as governor passing reforms on pensions and lowering taxes and called for increasing domestic energy production and strengthening the value of the dollar around the world.
The Hill contributed to this report.