How this dark horse Republican presidential candidate says he’ll beat Donald Trump in the 2024 race

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MANCHESTER, NH North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgums is far from a household name outside of his home state.

And a month into his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Burgum is near the bottom of the field, registering less than one percent in Fox News’ latest national poll in the GOP primary battle.

But the former software company CEO who became a two-term governor of his home state seems far from concerned about his position in the polls about six months before the caucuses and primaries begin.

“We don’t have to be leading today. We have to be ahead when the game starts next February,” Burgum emphasized in a Fox Digital interview as he pointed to the start of the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

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2024 presidential candidate and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum greets supporters at the Amherst Fourth of July Celebration in New Hampshire on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (Doug Burgum 2024 Presidential Campaign)

Burgum is focusing his campaign efforts on Iowa and New Hampshire, two states that for half a century have dominated the Republican schedule. And Burgum, who is one of the wealthiest candidates in a field of more than a dozen GOP White House hopefuls thanks to his massive success in the private sector has already shelled out more than $4 million of his own money to run ads in two early voting states .

“We’re excited about where we’re at,” Burgum said when he was interviewed in Manchester, N.H. “The reception in Iowa and New Hampshire has been great. And of course, on the ground. It’s on TV and radio. We’re doing everything we can because we have a good story to tell.”

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Asked how much of his own money was invested in the uphill climb toward the GOP nomination, Burgum wouldn’t give a dollar figure. But pointing to his business career, he says “I’ve never asked anyone to invest in what I’m doing unless I’m willing to put some skin in the game myself. And it’s the same here.”

“Ill put dollars into this campaign to get it going,” he noted before adding that “you cant win races if youre just trying to win races yourself. You cant accomplish anything. It takes a whole team. Were looking forward to run a fully funded campaign but that will come from people who care about America.”

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, sits down for a radio interview July 5, 2023, in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Fox Digital – Paul Steinhauser)

Burgum is used to challenges. He led his one-time small business, Great Plains Software, into a $1 billion software company. His business and the North Dakota-based workforce were acquired by Microsoft, and Burgum stayed on as senior vice president.

In 2016, the first-time candidate and long shot convincingly edged out a favored GOP establishment contender to capture the Republican nomination in North Dakota before going on to a landslide victory in the gubernatorial general election in the solidly red state. Burgum was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2020 to a second term as governor.

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The upcoming Republican presidential primary debates that begin with a Fox News-hosted showdown on August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin could help Burgum change his campaign trajectory.

The governors said they were “absolutely” hell-bent on reaching the high contributor and polling thresholds required by the Republican National Committee. “Well have the 40-thousand donors. Well meet that threshold. And well have the polling. That’s a no brainer. Well be there.”

Former President Donald Trump waves to the crowd at a campaign rally on July 1, 2023 in Pickens, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Burgum and the rest of the field remain well behind former President Donald Trump, who is the GOP front-runner as he makes his third straight run at the White House. While some rivals regularly take aim at Trump, Burgum avoids opportunities to blast the former president.

“I think America talks too much about the past and not enough about the future,” Burgum said, in an indirect bit of grievance with Trumps whom he has been promoting on the campaign trail and his repeated retrials of his losing the 2020 election to President Biden.

“If we keep talking about the past, this is what Democrats want because they love it when Republicans talk about the past and about each other,” Burgum highlighted. “You know who else wants it? China loves it. Russia loves it. Our adversaries around the world love it when we do all this fighting. We have to come together -come together as a nation and solve problems. That’s the good thing to do when I’m president.”

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The governor then quickly veered into blasting that he called President Bidens policies a failure.

Burgum is focusing his presidential campaign on three issues: the economy, energy, and national security. And you won’t hear him talk much about the culture wars and anti-woke crusades, which have been front and center in Florida Gov’s presidential campaigns. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur and political commentator Vivek Ramaswamy.

“Each campaign, each candidate, can talk about what they want to talk about. Were talking about the things that we know is the things that affects Americans and they affect all Americans. Thats what were talking about. And were also talking about the things that presidents should really do,” explained Burgum.

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He emphasized that “there is a limited range of things that the federal government can do. There is nothing in the Constitution that says the president, as a popular person, must weigh in on every local issue that the board of library, the city council can solve it, a town board can solve it, or the parents can solve it. We don’t need to involve the government in every aspect of our lives.”

Burgum then emphasized that “there are things we need to do, including national security which includes border security. These are things the federal government should be doing. The Biden administrations are literally not doing the job. which was chosen among them.”

Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter based in New Hampshire.

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