Gov. Burgum stresses states' power, energy costs and education in 1st GOP presidential primary debate
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The first debate of the 2024 presidential race is in the books and the eight rivals of former President Donald Trump — who opted not to attend — got mixed reactions from potential voters.
Among the GOP contenders is North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. He made it on the debate stage despite an Achilles injury Tuesday in a pickup basketball game prior to the event.
Reporter Jacob Fulton of The Bismarck Tribune was a guest on Morning Edition to talk about the governor's first major opportunity to reach a national audience.
The following is a transcript of the interview, lightly edited for clarity. To hear the full conversation, click on the player above.
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This was a key chance for Burgum to introduce himself to the nation. What picture did he paint of himself for voters?
You're exactly right. So Gov. Burgum was really planning on using this debate to be his first introduction to a national audience. Primarily, he stuck with the three areas of policy that he's been kind of discussing throughout his entire campaign.
So far, he's really been focused on energy policy, the economy and foreign policy. His first impression to the voters was packaging those three things together and really just sharing what he's about kind of pitching himself as a candidate that's trying to focus on the issues voters want.
What did Burgum have to say about the economy, specifically energy costs? And how does it reflect on what he's been doing in North Dakota?
He is really focused on American energy and growing American energy production. He says that that's a way to really revitalize the economy. And that's kind of just an extension of what he's been doing in North Dakota. He's been advocating for a lot of energy growth within the state. And he wants to bring that to a national level as well.
Burgum said our educational system is in decline and that federal rules and restrictions aren't helpful. What's the governor's record on education in North Dakota and he talk about that during the debate?
So one of the things that he really just wants to share with the American people is his focus on lifting these regulations and allowing teachers and school districts to innovate. He wants to leave things to the states rather than federal restrictions, which he's tried to do in North Dakota.
Burgum signed an almost absolute six-week abortion ban for North Dakota earlier this year. He and some of the other candidates don't believe there should be a federal abortion ban. Tell us more about Burgum’s stance on abortion.
So Burgum really thinks that abortion should be left to the states. He is pitching it as sort of the fact that what works in North Dakota doesn't work in New York, and he really believes that the state should be allowed to decide. He even pulled out a pocket Constitution as he was trying to pitch that fight to the voters.
Candidates have generally shied away from talking about former President Trump but the moderators eventually asked them to raise their hand if they would support the former president as the nominee if he's convicted. What is Burgum's stance on that?
Burgum was one of the six candidates who did raise his hand and say that he would support Trump even if he was convicted. That being said, he really tried throughout the rest of the debate to avoid Trump as much as possible.
When he was point blank asked about whether Mike Pence did the right thing in certifying the election in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection, he said that Mike Pence was doing the right thing. And then he sharply pivoted to try and talk about foreign policy, because he's — time and time again — really tried to take that airtime away from looking at President Trump's legal history and instead tried to focus on the policy issues.
So what's next for the governor? Where does he stand in the Republican field?
On Wednesday, Burgum was in the eighth position on the stage; the candidates who qualified were ranked by how they were polling in national averages. Gov. Burgum, according to FiveThirtyEight has not averaged above 1% [as of Wednesday morning]. This was supposed to be his big introduction after he's campaigned heavily in New Hampshire and Iowa to try and pitch himself to a national audience. And so now he's really looking to see whether his time on the debate stage allows him to gain traction as a candidate, gain viability and really see if his message resonated with American voters.