GOP presidential candidate Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota, makes Iowa debut

Clad in cowboy boots and a branded campaign vest, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum made his first Iowa visit Friday in his long-shot presidential bid.

Burgum spoke early Friday morning at a meeting of the Northside Conservative Breakfast Club in Ankeny, mingling and shaking hands with a crowd of about 35 Republicans — who, despite the name, did not have any breakfast.

The Republican governor focused his speech on his belief in small government and small-town values.

"This is what America's looking for, is what Iowa's got and what North Dakota's got," Burgum said. "And being a candidate from the heartland, someone who grew up in agriculture, someone who understands this, I think it's an advantage."

Who is Doug Burgum?

Burgum is the governor of North Dakota and a wealthy software investor.

He grew up in a small North Dakota town of just 400 people. After graduating from Stanford Business School, Burgum mortgaged the family farm he inherited to provide seed capital for Great Plains Software, a company that made accounting programs in the 1980s.

Burgum sold the company to Microsoft in 2001 for a $1.1 billion stock deal. He worked as a Microsoft executive for several more years, then founded businesses that invest in real estate development and software companies.

North Dakota elected Burgum to the governor's office in 2016. Burgum, who had no prior political experience, upset the longtime state attorney general and won the Republican primary, then clinched over 75% of the vote in the general election.

Burgum endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020, and Trump endorsed his gubernatorial candidacies. When asked why he's taking on a former ally, Burgum said, "We're not running against folks at this stage."

"I think competition is good for the country. It's good for every industry, and it's good for the Republican Party," he said. "So we look forward to making our case to Iowa and to the nation."

Where does Burgum stand on the issues?

Burgum told the Des Moines Register that he plans to keep his campaign focused on energy, the economy, and national security.

In his speech to the Ankeny breakfast club, Burgum spoke at length about his support for the oil industry and the role of the U.S. in exporting oil to other countries. North Dakota is one of the country's top oil producers.

He said Joe Biden's energy policy is "100% backwards."

"Instead of selling energy to our allies like Japan, instead of selling energy to our allies in Western Europe, we're basically saying, 'Hey, you should go buy it from our adversaries.'" Burgum said.

Burgum's speech did not include many of the biggest social narratives in Republican politics this year, such as inappropriate books in schools, LGBTQ rights, and abortion. Burgum said he would rather leave those discussions to state and local governments.

"We're focused on the issues that we think that matter the most to the most number of Americans," he said. "They're the things that the federal government is actually, constitutionally supposed to focus on."

However, those issues have been central to Burgum's tenure as governor. Just this year, Burgum signed a slew of restrictive laws regarding transgender medical care and accommodations, and a law to ban almost all abortions in the state.

What's Burgum's path through Iowa?

Burgum launched his presidential campaign on Wednesday, just hours before former Vice President Mike Pence held his own Iowa campaign kickoff.

The Republican presidential field has grown significantly in recent weeks, ballooning to a dozen contenders. Burgum said he's entering the race with "an advantage" in Iowa, citing his rural roots in North Dakota.

Burgum said he's planning to campaign in every Iowa county, joking that he would meet every Iowan.

"We're very focused on the things that matter the most to the most number of people, and that's the economy, that's energy, and that's national security," he said.

Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Presidential candidate Doug Burgum makes Iowa debut. Who is he?