Doug Burgum is the odds-on favorite at political betting sites to be the pick for Donald Trump’s vice president on the Republican ticket this November. Trump has until July to make his choice.
The biggest problem Burgum may have is most people are going to ask who is Doug Burgum. The Governor of North Dakota is not the most popular name in the basket of KFC that Trump may eventually pull a lucky name from, but he is beating the field right now according to the odds at BetOnline (find out more with our BetOnline Review).
Burgum has +300 odds to be Trump’s vice president, which beats out Tim Scott (+375), J.D. Vance (+550), Marco Rubio (+600) and Tulsi Gabbard (+1000) to name a few. The field choice “Any Other” also still has odds of +1000 at BetOnline as Trump continues mulling over his decision.
But who is Doug Burgum? Let’s answer that for you below and figure out if he has the right stuff to be Trump’s pick. You probably didn’t know who Mike Pence was before 2016 either. Vice presidents can come out of nowhere like that, and right now Burgum is a key figure in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Who Is Doug Burgum?
Doug Burgum is a Republican and the 33rd Governor of North Dakota. He will be 68 years old when the November election takes place in 2024.
Burgum has a similar background to Trump in that he was a businessman for decades and only turned to politics in 2016 when he ran for Governor in North Dakota. Before that, Burgum was able to build his fortune working in the tech industry to a reported $1.1 billion, putting him among the wealthiest governors in the country.
Burgum is a born-and-bred North Dakota citizen. He went to North Dakota State University, then he studied business at Stanford where he met Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft. You may also know him as the bald guy who owns the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers. Burgum worked with Ballmer in a project team at Stanford, a connection that would help him later in life.
In 1983, Burgum founded the successful software company Great Plains Software in Fargo, North Dakota. The company went public in 1997, then sold for $1.1 billion to Microsoft – hello, college connection – in 2001, the same time when Ballmer became CEO and the No. 2 guy in the company behind Bill Gates.
Burgum began his new role of Senior Vice President of Microsoft Business Solutions Group, but he left the company entirely by 2007. Burgum went back to creating companies in North Dakota, including a venture capital company and a real-estate development firm in Fargo.
A lifelong Republican, Burgum announced his run for Governor of North Dakota in 2016 despite having no prior political experience. If you think Trump announcing his intentions to run for president as a businessman with no political experience in 2015 had an impact on Burgum, you would be correct.
Burgum stumbled early in the process, but he eventually won the primary election with 76.5% of the vote to become North Dakota’s Governor. He won reelection in 2020 with 65.8% of the vote.
In January 2024, Burgum announced he will not be seeking a 3rd term as Governor of North Dakota. However, his hope for a 2024 presidential run were short-lived.
Burgum’s Failed 2024 Presidential Run
In June 2023, Burgum formally announced his intentions to run for president as a Republican in 2024. A month later, Burgum became a target on social media when his campaign was bashed for offering $20 gift cards to anyone who donated even just $1 to his campaign fund.
It must be nice to have money like that to throw around. Burgum also reportedly spent more money on political advertisements than any other candidate. But the gift card scheme worked, because Burgum did it to make sure he received enough donors to qualify for the 1st Republican primary debate.
Burgum qualified for the first 2 debates, but he failed to make a name for himself even on a stage that never included Donald Trump. Burgum was lost in the crowd with candidates like Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis.
Not gaining any traction in the polls, Burgum suspended his campaign on December 4, 2023.
Do Burgum’s Values Align with Trump’s?
Trump would certainly appreciate Burgum having a similar background in turning from business to politics and winning an election without prior experience in politics.
However, these are different kinds of candidates, as Burgum usually avoids the culture war stuff between liberals and conservatives that Trump, the MAGA movement and other loud Governors like Ron DeSantis (Florida) live for.
Burgum has mostly been a controversy-free Governor in North Dakota, and with his background in technology, he actually does bring some intelligence to the table. In a rare move for a Republican, Burgum made it a goal for North Dakota to be carbon-neutral by 2030.
However, in being rich, Burgum may have a major blind spot in connecting with the common people. He went on FOX News recently and talked about how billionaires should vote for Trump as his policies would be good for them.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) says a second Trump term will be good for billionaires:
“His policies are all in the right direction. If you’re a billionaire and you care about your shareholders … you should be voting for [Donald Trump].” pic.twitter.com/ZvMvVy4CUS
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) May 1, 2024
Well, Mr. Burgum, we regret to inform you that there are only about 735 billionaires in the United States according to a 2023 Forbes study. That’s not enough votes to concern yourself with.
Let’s make no mistake about it – Burgum’s values will align enough with Trump’s to a point where they could work together as president and vice president.
When pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about whether or not Mike Pence, Trump’s last VP, did the right thing by certifying the 2020 election on January 6th, Burgum dodged answering the question multiple times:
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who Trump said yesterday would do “a great job” as VP, does not answer when I asked if he thought Mike Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6. pic.twitter.com/5SQHCQi5Le
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 6, 2024
That is music to Trump’s ears, as loyalty is the No. 1 quality he’ll expect from his VP. But Burgum also has other views that will attract MAGA voters:
- Burgum has moved to align with Trump on abortion, saying it should be a states’ rights issue, and that he would not impose a federal ban. Burgum signed a near-total ban on abortion in North Dakota in 2023.
- Burgum, like Trump, supports the fossil fuel industry and has criticized the Biden administration for pushing to remove gas stoves from homes.
- Burgum is a hunter and Second Amendment advocate with an ‘A’ grade on gun issues from the NRA.
- While Burgum likes to avoid the culture war topics, his policies have been criticized as being anti-trans and he signed a bill in 2021 to ban the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 classes in his state.
Burgum recently called Trump the hardest-working person he knows in a brown-nosing session while Trump continues to attend his New York hush money trial:
Trump VP contender Doug Burgum claims Trump is the “hardest working” person he knows
(Trump has fallen asleep in court countless times in the past month and just complained about how “early” his criminal trial is) pic.twitter.com/9QbviYuhAr
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 18, 2024
Burgum might be sufficiently uninteresting and subservient to serve as Trump’s companion on the ballots come November.
