North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) on Wednesday sidestepped a question regarding the prospect of being former President Trump’s vice-presidential pick, stating that it’s only up to the former president.
When Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum asked Burgum if he wanted to be the vice president on Trump’s ticket, he responded, “That’s up for President Trump to decide, and President Trump alone. He’s got a lot of great choices.”
Burgum emerged as a top contender for Trump’s vice president in recent weeks, after launching a long-shot GOP presidency bid last year.
Trump, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, has spoken highly of Burgum’s work as a governor and said earlier this year he hopes Burgum can be a “very important piece of the administration.”
MacCallum on Wednesday asked Burgum if he would have any concerns about working in a Trump administration, given his older, more critical remarks of the former president.
“Well, I’ve got no concerns at all about being in this administration,” Burgum answered. ” And of course, Martha, you know that I endorsed President Trump early in 2016, I endorsed him in 2020, and I was one of the first ones to endorse him this year. And at least in our state it’s been a world of difference with President Trump in office versus President Biden. So, no qualms at all around that.”
Burgum is a former businessman who first built his name by developing a company into a major success, before entering the political world with no experience. He won his first gubernatorial campaign in 2016 and a second term in 2020.
Burgum suggested his experience in business could benefit a Trump White House.
“And of course, having a businessperson in the White House is fantastic, particularly given the … all the economic challenges that we have as a nation,” the North Dakota governor said. “But for me, when I was … didn’t know President Trump in ’16 at all, I never had met him … the first time I endorsed him. In 2020, I’d had an opportunity to work with them as a governor would with the president, that relationship was professional and fantastic.”
“But I only really got to know him as a person from January until now and having to spend that time with him,” he later said. ” I wish every American could see what the first lady Kathryn and I have seen, and that’s someone who cares deeply about this country, who works tirelessly, and who applies common sense to all the issues that are … that every American, working American family, is struggling with. I mean, he’s just fantastic.”