Why is Doug Burgum running for president?

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is contemplating a bid for the GOP presidential nomination, The Washington Post reports, and is so serious about the prospect that he "is already filming television ads" for his nascent presidential campaign. That might be something of a surprise: Burgum's name has not often been listed among the likely candidates as the 2024 presidential race gears up.

Even North Dakotans might be surprised by their governor's ambitions. One local journalist, a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, spotted the possibility ahead of just about everybody else. Columnist Rob Port writes he "happened to notice, back in March, a few stray social media posts indicating that North Dakota's governor had made the sort of trip to Iowa that presidential candidates make." Until this month, though, there were few other public clues that Burgum would actually run. Who is Doug Burgum? What is his agenda for higher office? And what are his chances?

Who is Doug Burgum?

He's a former chimney sweep. Really. As a senior at North Dakota State University "I had started a business sweeping chimneys," Burgum told Forbes in 2017. That proved a launching pad to greater success: A story about his business hit the wire services, Burgum said, which helped get him a slot at Stanford University, where he earned an MBA. "I was later told it caused quite a stir in the Stanford admissions office," Burgum said. "'Hey, there's a chimney sweep from North Dakota who's applied.'"

The 66-year-old governor went on to become a software executive who hit big: He sold his company to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001. He "first ran for governor in 2016 as a political neophyte with no party endorsements and only 10 percent support in local polls," CBS News reports. He took on the establishment GOP candidate, then-North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, and beat him for the nomination by 20 points. Two things that helped Burgum in that race: He was an outsider during the same cycle that elected Donald Trump to the presidency, and he largely self-funded his campaign.

What is he known for?

"Sources close to Burgum say the governor would likely focus a presidential campaign on two issues — the economy and energy," Fox News reports. As governor, he recently signed a bill that bans abortion after six weeks and another that restricts gender-affirming care for transgender minors. He did make national headlines during the early days of the COVID pandemic in 2020, making a case against the left-right ideological divide over masking. "If someone is wearing a mask, they're not doing it to represent what political party they're in or what candidates they support," he said, adding: "If somebody wants to wear a mask, there should be no mask shaming." Later that year, North Dakota imposed a short-lived mask requirement.

Why might he run for president?

He appears really interested in energy policy. (The oil and gas industry in North Dakota employs more than 50,000 people and provided the state with $3.8 billion in tax revenues in 2021.) The Forum points out that as governor, Burgum has set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 — but perhaps not in the way you might think: He has focused not on restricting fossil fuel use, but on "exploiting research in North Dakota to harness underground geological formations to store carbon." He told the paper's editorial board that he prefers innovation to regulation on energy and climate issues, and that is the approach he wants to see from the GOP's eventual presidential nominee. "Energy policy drives America," Burgum told the paper.

What are his odds?

Probably not great: As of mid-May, Burgum wasn't even listed as a "long shot" in Politico's overview of the GOP field of declared and likely candidates — that's how out-of-nowhere his candidacy appears to be. A recent Morning Consult poll clocked the support for 10 of the contenders, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, but Burgum's name was not on the list.

But Burgum apparently sees a path: After all, he was similarly unknown when he started his campaign for governor. "All the engagement right now is occurring on the edge," he told The Forum. "There's definitely a yearning for some alternatives right now."

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