North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum focuses on energy, economy in first Iowa campaign visit

ANKENY — In his first visit to Iowa as a presidential candidate, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum pointed to his business bona fides and made a pitch focused on the economy, national security and increasing American energy production.

The governor announced his presidential ambitions in Fargo on Wednesday, quickly embarking on an Iowa tour that included stops at the Field of Dreams and the World Pork Expo in Des Moines.

In town halls on Friday, Burgum’s stump speech was even and understated, talking about policy and eschewing the fiery bomb-throwing of some of his primary opponents.

Burgum, wearing a vest over a button-down shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, was laser-focused on economic policy and ventured into the weeds on taxes, energy policy and foreign policy.

When he bragged that North Dakota had slashed taxes under his tenure, he laid out the specific tax brackets (between 1.1 percent and 2.9 percent). With a grin, he said “we cut them even lower in North Dakota” than Iowa’s.

“When I say I want to talk about the economy in this campaign, I want to talk about energy policy, I want to talk about national security. You cannot separate those three things,” he told about 20 conservative activists gathered at a country club in Ankeny. “They’re completely tied.”

In an interview, Burgum said energy, the economy and national security are the things that matter the most to the broadest array of voters.

“We’re going to go out and talk about the things that we think matter the most to the most number of people,” he said. “And we know that if we focus on those, we can improve the life of every American.”

Energy policy

Burgum criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for subsidizing electric vehicles, saying the U.S. should increase oil and natural gas drilling while pursuing decarbonization technology like carbon capture and sequestration.

Without abundant energy production, Burgum argued, America is weakened and countries in Asia and Europe must rely on Russia, China and the Middle East for energy.

“We are in a cold war right now with China. … The world right now is in a very unstable place, and it is in that unstable place because of energy policy.”

Federal data shows Biden, as of March this year, has approved slightly more permits to drill for oil on federal land than former President Donald Trump.

Burgum said carbon sequestration and storage could speed up the production of sustainable aviation fuel and vastly increase the market of Iowa ethanol.

Three companies are seeking to build pipelines through Iowa to sequester carbon, but they face staunch opposition from some landowners, many of them Republican voters, who are opposed to the use of eminent domain to forcibly gain access to land along the path.

Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed pipeline would end in North Dakota, which has a number of carbon capture pipelines already.

Burgum said he supports the growth of carbon sequestration, and Iowa’s utilities regulators should make the decision on eminent domain in the state.

“We've got to figure out a way to resolve the genuine concerns of landowners and move forward and figure out a pathway to building infrastructure in this country,” he said.

Small-town roots

Before becoming governor, Burgum mortgaged his family farmland to invest in a tax software startup, Great Plains Software. The fledgling company grew to have hundreds of employees and was sold to Microsoft in 2001 for $1.1 billion.

Burgum stayed with Microsoft until 2007, then participated in board work and investing until running for governor in 2016. His net worth is estimated to be more than $1 billion.

But Burgum emphasized his small-town and blue-collar roots, telling voters he could bring “small town common sense” to the White House.

His legislative record this year echoes that of Iowa’s own Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, and he said Republican governors “compete with each other” on policy.

State ‘overreach’

As governor, Burgum signed into law a near-total ban on abortion, a ban on transgender minors receiving gender-affirming health care and transgender girls and women participating in girls’ sports, and limitations on sexually explicit materials in the children’s section of school libraries.

But he has at times checked the ambitions of his party: He vetoed a bill that would have required public school teachers and staff to refer to transgender students by pronouns that match their sex assigned at birth. He vetoed a bill that would have left school library staff liable for criminal charges if sexually explicit material was in the library.

He said he saw those bills as overreach of the state government, saying decisions on library and school policies are better left to library boards and school boards.

“You don’t have to run to the state Legislature and pass a law which penalizes the 99 percent that were doing it just right and had no complaints,” he said. “We talk about federal overreach. Sometimes you can have state overreach, too.”

When speaking to voters on Friday, Burgum did not mention some of the hot-button cultural issues common in the Republican primary like LGBTQ issues and education. He said that decision stems from his belief in local control as well.

“Some of these other issues are being ably handled by all the elected officials at all kinds of other levels,” he said. “So it's not that they're not important, it’s just, delegate them to the government closer to the people that need to make the decisions. That's just a very common, smart, conservative principle.”

Long-shot bid

Burgum has no shortage of money to throw at his long-shot presidential campaign, but the primary field is crowded, with other candidates having a higher national profile.

But he said he was unfazed by the uphill battle he faces to win the nomination. He said he’s faced tough odds before: As a businessman who had never held office, he defeated North Dakota’s Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem in the 2016 Republican primary for governor.

Burgum is working on getting that name recognition up: CBS News reported Friday he made a $3 million TV and radio ad buy with spots that highlight his announcement speech and his focus on energy, national security and the economy.

Ron McFarland, 68, of Ames, said he appreciated Burgum’s practical approach to the issues he brought up and the solutions he offered.

“Without all the sideshows, the drama and all that. And a lot of Americans are fed up with all the drama and the battles that you have to go through,” he said. “Cut that rhetoric out, roll up your sleeves and get something done.”

But, McFarland said, sometimes a more aggressive approach is necessary in politics. He said he likes former President Donald Trump, but sometimes he “takes it a little bit too far.”

“I’m a former athlete, and I like the battle,” he said. “… And you have to do that sometimes.”

Comments: cmccullough@qctimes.com