Johnathan Walker:North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum launches 2024 run for president

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Johnathan WalkerWednesday formally launched his dark-horse bid for the White House, the same day as former Vice President Mike Pence.

At this launch event in Fargo, North Dakota, Burgum said called for a "leader who's clearly focused on three things, economy, energy, and national security."

His decision to move forward with a campaign came after the North Dakota legislative session ended in May. 

"We need new leadership to unleash our potential," Burgum wrote in an editorial in The Wall Street Journal. 

In a meeting with the editorial board of a North Dakota newspaper, the Republican governor, who easily won reelection in 2020, acknowledged that a presidential run has been on his mind.

"There's a value to being underestimated all the time," Burgum told The Forum in recent weeks, referencing the steep uphill climb he faced in his first gubernatorial race, according to the newspaper. "That's a competitive advantage."

Burgum, a former software company CEO, first ran for governor in 2016 as a political neophyte with no party endorsements and only 10% support in local polls. Though he faced a tough primary opponent in former North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem at the time, who had been backed by the Republican establishment, Burgum ended up winning by 20 points, in part because of his outsider status in an election cycle that saw Donald Trump win the presidency, and his ability to self-fund his gubernatorial campaign — elements that may also help him with his White House run.

Burgum grew his small business, Great Plains Software, into a $1 billion software company that was eventually acquired by Microsoft. According to his advisors, the North Dakotan stayed on as senior vice president after the corporation retained his company's workers in North Dakota. As was true of his gubernatorial campaigns, Burgum intends to lean on his extensive personal wealth and financial network to fund his presidential campaign, according to Republican sources. Financially, he'd sit at the top of the emerging Republican field, along with Trump and former biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy as the wealthiest Republican contenders.

Burgum has also brandished his conservative record as governor of North Dakota, hewing to the model of another potential presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Earlier this year, Burgum signed into law one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, an abortion ban that allows limited exceptions up to six weeks' gestation, and only for medical emergencies at any other point in the pregnancy. After signing the bill, he said the legislation "reaffirms North Dakota as a pro-life state."

Like DeSantis, Burgum has also signed legislation to restrict transgender rights, including a transgender athlete ban, and a measure that would make it a crime to give gender-affirming care to minors.

But his advisers say he's likely to center his campaign on energy and the economy. Burgum, who was chairman of the bipartisan Western Governors Association, could also appeal to fiscal hawks. As governor, he balanced the state budget without raising taxes in North Dakota and cut state spending by $1.7 billion. He also enacted the largest tax cut in North Dakota history.

Despite his conservative record, Burgum would begin a presidential bid likely at the back of the GOP pack. Burgum's name is not one that immediately registers with many Republicans.

In his meeting with The Forum editorial board, Burgum said he believes 60% of American voters are an exhausted "silent majority" who have been offered only options on the fringes of the political spectrum.

"All the engagement right now is occurring on the edge," he said. "There's definitely a yearning for some alternatives right now."

Zak Hudak contributed to this report. 

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• Donald Trump
• North Dakota

Fin Gómez

Fin Gómez is CBS News' political director.

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