Can Doug Burgum Be President?

The Republican presidential field is crowded, and includes several potentially strong candidates. Most people would not put Doug Burgum, the Governor of North Dakota, on that list, if they are even aware that he is running. Of course it is true that Burgum is a long shot, but there are reasons why he may be worth a closer look.

First of all, who is he? Check out this Wall Street Journal interview. Burgum grew up in a tiny town in North Dakota. After his father’s death, and after he had graduated from Stanford with an MBA, he literally bet his family’s farm to start a company, Great Plains Software. Great Plains did extremely well and eventually was acquired by Microsoft for $1.1 billion. Burgum became a senior officer of Microsoft; he also took Microsoft stock instead of cash in the acquisition, which therefore turned out to be worth much more. Like all good entrepreneurs, Burgum made a number of people wealthy, not just himself.

In North Dakota, Burgum, who was re-elected as governor in 2020 in a 40-point landslide, is seen as a moderate Republican. That is largely because he–unlike South Dakota’s Governor Kristi Noem, for example–is not a culture warrior:

As for the culture wars, Mr. Burgum is a constitutional conscientious objector. “They have nothing to do with being president of the United States,” he says. “The 10th Amendment is very clear about what the federal government’s role is.”

Given the Left’s ferocious assault on our culture, most Republicans probably don’t agree. So why is Burgum a plausible candidate? Because his central issue is energy.

Ten days ago, I attended a Burgum fundraiser and had an opportunity to spend some time with him. He laid out his priorities as a candidate: 1) the economy, 2) energy, and 3) strong international leadership. But all three of these, in his telling, come down largely to energy, in which North Dakota abounds, with both major coal reserves and the Bakken natural gas field.

When talking to the group as a whole, Burgum sounded amiable, like most politicians. But when I talked with him privately about energy, he quickly transformed into the businessman who created billions in value. His knowledge of energy is extraordinary. He reels off facts and statistics effortlessly. He is up to speed on, and actually understands, the most current scientific developments. He wants to use technology to thread the energy needle, placating liberals who are obsessed with CO2 while using America’s unparalleled fossil fuel resources to power our economy and give us unquestioned world leadership. It is a powerful vision, and Burgum is a very smart man.

Why might this make Burgum a strong contender? Because energy is the most important issue now before us. The Left is trying to destroy our economy, drastically lower our standard of living, and turn our future over to the Chinese Communist Party by abandoning our world-leading energy resources, and instead requiring us to use idiotic “green” technologies that don’t work, will never work, and are controlled by the Chinese, who use coal to run the plants that manufacture our pathetic wind turbines and solar panels. All of this is being done in the name of “climate change.”

This attack on our future is more threatening, and more important, than anything else that is now happening. How many politicians understand that? Not many. Some have been seduced by “green” propaganda–or, likely, by “green” money. Others are mentally squishy and subscribe to “all of the above” cliches without having any understanding of the Left’s agenda.

Who knows? Twenty years from now, it might be obvious that what we needed more than anything else in 2024 was a president who understands energy. That makes Doug Burgum worth a look.