South Dakota’s glamorous GOP Governor Kristi Noem begins her campaign to become Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick for 2024 race

Donald Trump heads to South Dakota on Friday night for a holiday fundraiser that will also be an opportunity for the state’s governor, Kristi Nameto present himself as a potential vice presidential choice.

Trump will join the South Dakota Republican Party for a Monumental Leaders Rally in Rapid City.

Noem will and is appearing alongside the former president expected him to support himcreating an image of the couple that Noem’s allies hope looks like vice-presidential material.

Noem has not yet made her endorsement public, but sources told the New York Times that she is eyeing a vice presidential spot. Noem, 51, is being touted as a future presidential candidate — with a stint in the White House sure to propel her to national prominence and help boost any future presidential ambitions.

Trump’s decision to headline the event underscores his dominance over the Republican race, even as he faces four separate charges and 91 felonies.

South Dakota has a late primaries and is not competitive in the general election.

With a huge lead in the polls, Trump is skipping much of the traditional primary campaign.

Instead of large-scale rallies, he relies on state party events that provide large, friendly audiences at no cost to his campaign, while his political organization pays millions of dollars in legal fees.

Trump’s visit Friday is an audition of sorts for Noem.

She planned the event as a way to both show her support and maximize face time with Trump as he considers potential running mates and Cabinet members for 2024, according to one of the Republicans who spoke anonymously. A spokesperson for the governor declined to comment.

Noem will serve a limited term in 2026 and, after refusing to run for president this year, is looking at her next move to maintain prominence within the Republican party.

“I think Donald Trump has a 50-50 chance of being elected at this point, so why not hitch your wagon to him if you can?” said Michael Card, a longtime observer of South Dakota politics, who suggested that Noem could also become a future president of the National Rifle Association or a conservative commentator.

Voting will not begin for several months, and Trump’s indictments and upcoming criminal trials create an unprecedented situation that many strategists say could affect the race in unexpected ways.

That hasn’t stopped those eager to be considered Trump’s running mate from openly competing for the position and trying to curry favor with him and his aides.

Aides warn it is far too early for serious discussions, but Trump has indicated in conversations that he is interested in selecting a woman this time after falling out with his former Vice President Mike Pence.

Aides say Trump has little interest in choosing a vice president and views the role as largely ceremonial and vastly inferior to that of the president. But potential candidates like Noem realize it can still be used as a stepping stone to the top job. Joe Biden and George HW Bush are among nine former vice presidents who later became president.

Among the other names put forward: New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, and Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn. Florida Representative Byron Donalds and Senator Tim Scott have also been named.

Trump will be in Iowa on Saturday, the first state on the GOP nomination calendar, to attend the college football game between Iowa and Iowa State.

“What we’re focused on is closing out this primary and pivoting toward the general election,” said campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.

Noem had long been considered a potential candidate for the White House and had been told as much The New York Times in November that she did not believe Trump offered “the best chance” for the party in 2024.

She has since said she saw no point in joining the crowded field of candidates running for the nomination, given Trump’s dominant position.

“I would do that in a heartbeat,” she told Newsmax when asked this week if she would consider running on a possible Trump ticket if asked.

“President Trump needs a strong partner if he wants to retake the White House, and he needs someone who knows what it’s like to run a business, to be an employee, to earn a salary, but also to be a to have a wife, mother and father. a grandma isn’t bad either.’

It will be Trump’s first visit to South Dakota since the summer of 2020, when he headlined a July 4 fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore on the eve of Independence Day.

The then president was looking for a location to turn the page after a summer of pandemic lockdowns and racial justice protests.

Notably, Noem’s event at Mount Rushmore was devoid of pandemic restrictions.

She also gifted him a miniature replica of Mount Rushmore with his likeness carved alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.

“I don’t know exactly,” Trump said Thursday when asked whether Noem would support him. ‘But I am going. I like her very much. I love her. Kristi did a great job.”

He has often praised her handling of the pandemic, saying again on Thursday that she had done a “fantastic job.”

Noem, a former member of Congress, won a surprisingly narrow victory over a Democratic challenger in 2018 to become South Dakota’s first female governor.

She achieved national fame with a mostly hands-off approach to the pandemic and closely aligned with Trump’s push to return to normal life.

She handily won re-election last year, even though she underperformed other Republicans during the election.

Despite not running for president, Noem has continued to position herself nationally. She has been an outspoken champion for the National Rifle Association, even bragging at a spring convention for the gun rights group that her one-year-old granddaughter “already” had firearms.

She has also defended South Dakota’s abortion ban and will appear later this month at a Michigan fundraiser in support of Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers.

During the GOP’s first presidential debate, she appeared in an ad encouraging businesses and families to move to what she calls “the freest state in America.”

Friday’s event is expected to attract protesters targeting both Trump and Noem, said Annie Bachand, CEO of South Dakota-based group Liberty & Justice for All.

“The reason we show up is to show other people that we are not alone,” Bachand said.

“Kristi Noem has spent more time campaigning for I don’t know what than in South Dakota. She’s more interested in her own self-interest than caring for the people of South Dakota.”

South Dakota GOP Chairman John Wiik said he expects about 7,000 people to attend the sold-out fundraiser.

The event was initially planned as a Lincoln Day-style fundraising dinner usually held by local Republican groups, Wiik said, but it later degenerated into a rally with proceeds going to the state party.

“I got a lot of questions in the beginning,” Wiik said of Trump’s decision to travel to his state just as the primary season is entering its traditional post-Labor Day overdrive.

“But the closer you look at it, Trump is a media event wherever he ends up,” Wiik said.

“He could have a rally on the moon and he would spread his word and reach just as many people, so I’m just glad he chose South Dakota.”