With his rivals attempting to pick up some degree of support by holding town halls in other states, Trump headed to South Dakota for its “Monumental Leaders Rally” in Rapid City. There, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem decided to throw her support for 2024 behind the former president, saying she would do whatever she could to help his campaign.
As Trump took the state during the event, Gov. Noem warmly introduced him and made her formal endorsement of him for the race, saying, to the wild applause of the crowd, “It is my honor to present to you the man in their arena. He is a man of significance. He is the leader, the fighter that our country needs. He has my full and complete endorsement for President of the United States of America.”
Continuing, Gov. Noem vowed to fight on his behalf and do anything she could to help him in 2024, saying, “I will do everything I can to help him win and save this country. Ladies and gentlemen, the 45th and the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.”
In a tweet on the matter, Gov. Noem also said, “The ONLY person in this race who will put America back on its foundation is @realDonaldTrump. He has my full and complete endorsement. I will do everything in my power to help him win to save this great country.”
Also during her introduction, Gov. Noem added that all the other Republican presidential candidates had been invited to the event, but they had declined and Trump had shown up. “All of them told us that they had better things to do. But when President Trump was invited to come be with you tonight, he said, ‘I will be there,’” she said.
When asked by Fox News if she would consider being Trump’s running mate in 2024, Gov. Noem said, “Yeah. I’d have to consider it. I think everybody would have to consider it if they were asked that question. It’s such an important time in our history where we see constitutional freedoms being undermined by leaders across this country almost every day.”
In 2022, Noem ruled out running for president herself and noted that no candidate had a real shot of winning with Trump in the race, telling Fox News, “I do feel pretty confident that President Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. He obviously has a record that he’s running on and people know with him what they’re getting. I think these other candidates that are in may be good people, but their record isn’t just as impressive.”
Similarly, in August of 2023, she said, “The fact is, none of them can win as long as Trump’s in the race. And that’s just the facts. So why run if you can’t win.” She added, “I’ve probably run 10 statewide races. I’ve won them all. I’ve never lost. If I get into a race, I’m gonna win. So that’s just how we do it. And President Trump did some great things for our state and for our country. As governor — and everybody should be grateful for this — he let me do my job. When he was president, he let me do my job, and I appreciate that. Biden doesn’t do that.”
Watch her here:
The 45th — and 47th — President of the United States: @realDonaldTrump! pic.twitter.com/recMR9eKnH
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) September 9, 2023
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