Kristi Noem was born to Ron and Corinne Arnold in
Watertown, South Dakota,[1] and was raised with her siblings on their family ranch and farm in rural
Hamlin County.[2] She has
Norwegian ancestry.[3] Noem graduated from Hamlin High School in 1990, and was crowned South Dakota Snow Queen that year.[4]
Noem's father was killed in a farm machinery accident in 1994.[2][5] Noem attended
Northern State University from 1990 to 1994, but did not graduate. Her daughter, Kassidy, was born on April 21, 1994. Noem left college early to run the family farm. She added a hunting lodge and restaurant to the family property. Her siblings also moved back to help expand the businesses.[2] Noem subsequently took classes at the Watertown campus of
Mount Marty College and at
South Dakota State University, and online classes from the
University of South Dakota.[2][4][6] She completed her BA in political science at SDSU in 2012 while serving in Congress.[7]
Noem served for four years, from 2007 to 2010; she was an assistant majority leader during her second term.[10][11] During her tenure, Noem was the prime sponsor of 11 bills that became law, including several property tax reforms and two bills to increase gun rights in South Dakota.[12][13][14] In 2009, she served as vice chair of the Agriculture Land Assessment Advisory Task Force. Senator
Larry Rhoden chaired the task force and later served as her lieutenant governor.[15]
Noem's opponent, incumbent Democratic U.S. Congresswoman
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, emphasized her own record of independence from the Democratic caucus, including her votes against health care reform, the Wall Street bailouts, and the cap-and-trade energy bill. In response, Noem repeatedly highlighted Herseth Sandlin's vote for
Nancy Pelosi as
Speaker of the House. During the 2010 election cycle, Noem outraised Herseth Sandlin, $2.3 million to $2.1 million.[18][19] Noem defeated Herseth Sandlin, 48 to 46 percent.[20]
The 2011 House Republican 87-member freshman class elected Noem as liaison to the House Republican leadership, making her the second woman member of the House GOP leadership.[24] According to The Hill, her role was to push the leadership to make significant cuts to federal government spending and to help Speaker
John Boehner manage the expectations of the freshman class.[25] In March 2011, Republican Representative
Pete Sessions of Texas named Noem one of the 12 regional directors for the
National Republican Congressional Committee during the 2012 election campaign.[2][26]
After being elected to Congress, Noem continued her education through online courses. The Washington Post dubbed her Capitol Hill's "most powerful intern" for receiving college intern credits from her position as a member of Congress.[27] She earned a B.A. in
political science from
South Dakota State University in 2012.[28]
On March 8, 2011, she announced the formation of a leadership
political action committee, KRISTI PAC.[29] Former South Dakota
Lieutenant GovernorSteve Kirby is its treasurer.[30][31][32] Noem was among the top freshman Republicans in PAC fundraising in the first quarter of 2011, raising $169,000 from PACs.[33]
Abortion
Noem co-sponsored legislation that would federally ban abortion.[34] In 2015, Noem co-sponsored a bill to amend the
14th Amendment to define human life and personhood as beginning at
fertilization, federally banning abortion from the moment of fertilization in the United States, and she voted for another bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.[35]
Energy and environment
Noem has said that the U.S. needs an "all-of-the-above energy approach" that includes renewables like wind and ethanol while still realizing the need for a "balanced energy mix" that ends American dependence on
foreign oil.[36][37][38][39]
Noem opposed a bill introduced by South Dakota Senator
Tim Johnson that would designate over 48,000 acres (190 km2) of the
Buffalo Gap National Grassland as protected
wilderness.[44] She supports the current designation of the land as a
national grassland.[45] She pointed out that the land is already managed as roadless areas similar to wilderness[46] and argued that changing the land's designation to wilderness would further limit
leaseholder access to the land and imperil
grazing rights.[45][46]
Foreign affairs
From 2013 to 2015, Noem served on the House Armed Services Committee, where she worked on the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.[47] Her appointment to the committee was seen as a benefit to South Dakota's
Ellsworth Air Force Base.[48] In March 2011, Noem was critical of President
Barack Obama's approach to the
NATO-led military intervention in the
2011 Libyan civil war, calling on him to provide more information about the U.S.'s role in the conflict and characterizing his statements as vague and ambiguous.[49][50]
Health care
Noem opposes the
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has voted to repeal it.[51][52] Having unsuccessfully sought to repeal it, she sought to defund it while retaining measures such as the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, the provision allowing parents to keep their children on their health insurance plan into their 20s, and the high-risk pools.[53] Noem wanted to add such provisions to federal law as limits on
medical malpractice lawsuits and allowing patients to buy health insurance plans from other states.[53] She supported cuts to
Medicaid funding proposed by Republican Budget Committee chairman
Paul Ryan. A study found that this action would reduce benefits for South Dakota Medicaid recipients by 55 percent.[38]
Immigrants and refugees
Noem supported President
Donald Trump's 2017
Executive Order 13769 that suspended the U.S. refugee program for 120 days and banned all travel to the U.S. by nationals of seven
Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.[54] She said she supported a temporary ban on accepting refugees from "terrorist-held" areas,[55] but "did not address whether she supports other aspects of the order, which led to the detention of legal U.S. residents such as green-card holders and people with dual citizenship as they reentered the country" in the aftermath of the order's issuance.[54]
In-vitro fertilization and embryonic stem-cell research
In August of 2010, running for Congress, Noem responded to a questionnaire from the
Christian Coalition voter guide indicating that she would vote to ban embryonic stem-cell research.[35] In 2015, Noem co-sponsored legislation that would amend the 14th Amendment to define human life and personhood as beginning at the moment of fertilization and which did not include exceptions for in-vitro fertilization and embryonic stem-cell research.[35]
Taxes
In 2017, Noem was on the conference committee that negotiated the passage of the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which she touted as giving the average South Dakota family a $1,200 tax cut.[56][57]
In 2018, Noem was reported to have "pitched the idea to members of the conservative
House Freedom Caucus" to attach her online sales tax bill to the government funding package as part of an omnibus. A court case under consideration in the
South Dakota Supreme Court involved requiring "certain out-of-state retailers to collect its sales taxes." Noem said that South Dakota businesses (and by extension businesses nationwide) "could be forced to comply with 1,000 different tax structures nationwide without the tools necessary to do so", adding that her legislation "provides a necessary fix."[58]
In 2011, Noem indicated that she would vote to raise the federal
debt ceiling, but only if "tied to budget reforms that change the way we spend our dollars and how Washington, D.C., does business. It won’t just be a one-time spending cut."[63] She ultimately voted for S. 365, The Budget Control Act of 2011, which allowed Obama to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts to be decided by a bipartisan committee.[64] She also said she wanted to eliminate the
estate tax,[65] lower the corporate tax rate, and simplify the
tax code.[2] She said she would not raise taxes to balance the budget.[66]
On November 14, 2016, Noem announced that she would run for
governor of South Dakotain 2018 rather than seek reelection to Congress.[71] She defeated South Dakota Attorney General
Marty Jackley in the June 5 Republican primary, 56 to 44 percent,[72][73] and
Democratic nominee
Billie Sutton in the general election, 51.0 to 47.6 percent.[74]
On November 12, 2021, Noem announced that she was running for reelection as governor.[75] On November 17, 2021, State Representative
Steven Haugaard announced that he was running for governor against Noem.[76] On February 1, 2022, House Democratic Minority Leader
Jamie Smith announced he was seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.[77] Noem defeated Smith to win a second term, garnering 62% of the vote to Smith's 35%. Despite predictions of a competitive race, Noem flipped 17 counties that had previously voted Democratic and set a record for the most votes received by a candidate for governor in South Dakota.
Tenure
Noem was sworn in as governor of South Dakota on January 5, 2019, the first woman in that office in the state.[78]
Noem has signed several bills restricting abortion, saying that the bills would "crack down on abortion providers in South Dakota". She also said, "A strong and growing body of medical research provides evidence that unborn babies can feel, think, and recognize sounds in the womb. These are people, they must be given the same basic dignities as anyone else."[82][83]
Following the
overturning of Roe v. Wade, South Dakota became one of the first states to enact
trigger laws banning abortions.[84] In an interview on CNN's State of the Union, Noem defended South Dakota's abortion ban, which only allows exceptions in cases in which the mother's life is in danger. When asked about
the case of the 10-year-old child abuse victim who traveled from Ohio to Indiana in order to receive an abortion, Noem said that she would not support changing the law to allow exceptions for victims of rape, explaining that she does not "believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy."[84] In January of 2024, she proclaimed 2024 to be the "Freedom for Life Year," promoting anti-abortion laws.[85] On April 21, 2024, Noem announced that she has reversed her prior support for a federal ban on abortion, now saying she believes that abortion law should be determined at the state level, and she said she continues to support South Dakota's law which bans abortion except to save the life of the pregnant patient and which does not include exceptions for cases of rape or incest.[86]
Access to public records
While running for governor in 2018, Noem made government transparency a key part of her platform.[87][88] She doubled down on this during her first State of the State address, pledging to "work toward building the most transparent administration South Dakota has ever seen."[89][90]
Throughout her tenure, numerous news outlets and government transparency advocates have sued Noem for allegedly failing to live up to these standards.[91][92] Complaints have revolved around a variety of issues, including the denial of immediate access to a state-funded report about the alleged presence of
critical race theory and so-called "divisive concepts" in South Dakota schools;[93][94][95] the denial of access to pardon records;[96] deciding not to release records of the cost of the governor's security team;[97][98] whipping votes against a bill to make public records of the cost of the governor's security;[99][100] and attempts to seal records relating to an ethics investigation involving her daughter.[101]
Anti-protest legislation
In response to protests against the
Keystone Pipeline, Noem's office collaborated with the energy company
TransCanada Corporation to develop anti-protest legislation, which Noem signed into law in March 2019. The law created a fund to cover the costs of policing pipeline protests. Another law was passed to raise revenue for the fund by creating
civil penalties for advising, directing, or encouraging participation in rioting. The
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation banned Noem from their grounds as a result. The
Indigenous Environmental Network,
Sierra Club, and other groups challenged the laws in suits, arguing that the laws violated
First Amendment rights by incentivizing the state to sue protesters.[102] In 2020, after a federal court struck down sections of the legislation as unconstitutional, Noem brought additional legislation to repeal sections of the previous bill and clarify the definition of "incitement to riot".[103]
Conflict of interest action to professionally benefit daughter
In July 2020, after Noem's 26-year-old daughter,[104] Kassidy Peters, was denied a real estate appraisal license, Noem summoned to her office Sherry Bren, a state employee who had directed South Dakota's Appraiser Certification Program for 30 years.[105] Additional attendees included Peters, Noem's chief of staff Tony Venhuizen,[106] Department of Labor Attorney Amber Mulder and Labor Secretary Marcia Hultman.[107] By telephone the group was joined by the governor's general counsel, Tom Hart, and a lawyer from the state's Department of Labor and Regulation, Graham Oey.[105] A week later, Hultman demanded Bren's resignation. Bren repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, tried to resolve the issues short of resigning, eventually filing an age discrimination complaint.[105] She received a $200,000 settlement as part of a nondisclosure agreement to withdraw her complaint and leave her position.[citation needed]
Noem's spokesperson Ian Fury characterized the allegations as an example of how Noem cuts through "bureaucratic red tape".[105] Noem responded to a public airing of the charges by writing, "Listen I get it. I signed up for this job. But now the media is trying to destroy my children" and "This story is just another example of the double standard that exists with the media... going after conservatives and their kids while ignoring Liberals." Fury said, "The Associated Press is disparaging the governor's daughter in order to attack the governor politically. No wonder Americans' trust in the media is at an all-time low."[108]
After the Associated Press published a story about the incident, the
State Senate's Government Operations and Audit Committee was delegated to investigate the situation.[108] The attorney general, Republican
Jason Ravnsborg, was tasked with providing guidance to the legislature as to their deliberations.[109][110] In April 2021, Noem had called for Ravnsborg's resignation after release of details of an investigation into the death of a pedestrian he had hit with his car.[111] After his refusal to tender his resignation, in June 2022, on his impeachment, state senators convicted Attorney General Ravnsborg on two counts of official malfeasance and by a bipartisan 31–2 vote, barred him from ever holding office again in the state.[112]
In October 2021, the Government Operations and Audit Committee invited Secretary of the Department of Labor Marcia Hultman and Sherry Bren to come before the committee to discuss the appraisal program in light of the controversy surrounding the program, Noem, Noem's daughter, and a $200,000 payout to Bren for an age discrimination claim.[113][114]
On December 14, 2021, Bren testified before the Government Operations and Audit Committee.[107] She said that Peters received an Agreed Disposition around March/April 2020. Around July 20, 2020, Peters received a letter and/or Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law when she failed to meet the requirements of the Agreed Disposition. Bren said she was told by Department of Labor attorney Amber Mulder on July 26, 2020, to be prepared to discuss "What is the definition of a serious deficiency; what criteria do you use for denials; how many are denied each year; how many are approved; are we saying that Kassidy can take certain classes and resubmit."[107] Bren said she felt "very nervous" and "intimidated" when meeting with Noem and numerous attorneys and Labor Secretary Hultman.[115] Bren mentioned during the meeting at the mansion some appraisal classes that she thought would be helpful to Peters. Bren said that Noem was upset that she was just now hearing about the classes. Bren testified that the decision to depart from recognized upgrade procedures and offer a third opportunity would be Hultman's. Bren said this was beyond the recognized procedures and "not normal."[107]
On November 1, 2021, the Government Accountability Board set an agenda to discuss this issue and another issue based on complaints brought by Ravnsborg.[116] On December 15, 2021, the Government Accountability Board referred one of the two complaints to Noem for a response and sent the other back to the complainant for further information.[117] On February 3, 2022, the Government Accountability Board referred the second complaint to Noem for a response and gave her until April 15, 2022, to answer both pending complaints.[118][119]
On February 24, 2022, Republican State Representative
John Mills introduced House Resolution 7004, "Addressing the Governor's unacceptable actions in matters related to the appraiser certification program", against Noem.[120] On March 1, the resolution was debated and failed by a margin of 29 to 38 with three excused, including Noem's primary opponent
Steven Haugaard and U.S. House candidate
Taffy Howard.[121]
Conflict with Native American tribes
In early 2024, multiple Native American tribes banned Noem from setting foot on their land after she accused some tribal leaders of benefitting from having cartels within their borders and accusing some tribes of neglecting their children.[122]
COVID-19 pandemic
During the
COVID-19 pandemic in South Dakota, Noem at first was responsive to containment strategies.[123][124] As President
Donald Trump began to actively resist governmental interventions, she segued to a hands-off approach. She used pandemic relief funds in November 2020 to promote tourism during a surge in cases in the state.[125] She did not implement face mask mandates, raised doubts about the efficacy of mask-wearing, encouraged large gatherings without social distancing or mask-wearing, and questioned the advice of public health experts.[126][127] As of December 2020, she was one of few governors who had not maintained statewide
stay-at-home orders or face-mask mandates.[128][129] Her response mirrored Trump's rhetoric and handling of COVID-19.[127][130] She was rewarded for her COVID-19 response with a speech at the August
2020 Republican National Convention, which elevated her national profile.[130][131] The Argus Leader described the RNC speech as a "defining moment in her political career."[132]
Early in the pandemic, Noem requested that the legislature pass a bill giving the state health secretary and county officials the power to close businesses and other entities.[123] The House rejected the bill.[124] On March 13, 2020, Noem ordered K-12 schools to close,[133][134] and on April 6, she extended that order for the remainder of the school year.[135][136] Also on April 6, Noem ordered businesses and local governments to practice social distancing and other CDC guidelines.[136][137]
Early on, Noem also emphasized South Dakota's role in evaluating
hydroxychloroquine, an
antimalarial drug that Trump had touted as a cure for COVID-19.[138] It has never been shown to be useful in treating COVID-19 but can produce fatal cardiac
arrythmia.[139][140]
One of the largest COVID-19
outbreaks in the U.S. at the time[when?] occurred in South Dakota.[141] The
Smithfield Foods production plant in
Sioux Falls had four deaths, with nearly 1,300 workers and their family members testing positive.[142]Secretary of Health and Human ServicesAlex Azar misinformed a group of legislators that meatpacking plants employees were not likely to be infected at work, but that their "home and social" habits were spreading the contagion. Noem may have been the first officeholder to publicly express that view. On April 13, 2020, of an outbreak where hundreds of workers had tested positive at a Smithfield pork plant, she told Fox News, "We believe that 99 percent of what's going on today wasn't happening inside the facility". The industry didn't explain the deaths from COVID-19 of USDA food-safety inspectors from three plants. Almost 200 inspectors contracted symptomatic COVID-19.[143] In the pandemic's early days, the Food Safety and Inspection Service did not provide protective equipment to its monitors, forbidding them from wearing masks in the slaughterhouses as it feared that might accentuate the risks. On April 9, 2020, the agency said its inspectors would be allowed to wear masks if the meatpacking plants' owners gave the federal employees permission to do so. Inspectors were expected to supply their own masks.[143] A month later, after publication of the risk for spreading the coronavirus, the USDA at last started giving its inspectors masks.[143] Noem had said that the plant was in full operation as an essential food manufacturing facility.[144] Forty-eight of Smithfield's workers were hospitalized.[145] On April 6, Noem issued an executive order that said people "shall" follow guidance from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;[146] she also ordered everyone over age 65 in
Minnehaha and
Lincoln counties to stay home for three weeks.[147][148]
Noem did not mandate social distancing or the
wearing of face masks at a July 3 event at
Mount Rushmore with Trump present. Health experts warned that large gatherings without social distancing or mask-wearing posed a risk to public health.[149] Noem doubted scientific recommendations on the usefulness of masks.[150] In an opinion piece in the Rapid City Journal, she defended her views, citing analysis by the
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a group known for promoting pseudoscience.[150] The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons had called vaccination the equivalent of "human experimentation."[151] COVID-19 patients hospitalized on October 22 reached a record high of 355, including 75 in
Intensive Care Units. South Dakota's two largest hospital systems rescheduled elective procedures to increase available space and personnel to accommodate the surge. In the absence of a statewide mask mandate, hospital systems urged people to wear masks while in the company of those outside their own households.
Sioux Falls Mayor
Paul TenHaken advised his constituents, "Wear a dang mask."[150]
Sixteen weeks after Trump's executive order that provided enhanced weekly unemployment benefits of $300 as part of the
U.S. federal government response to the pandemic, Noem opted out of the program, citing a low state unemployment rate.[152] South Dakota was the only state to refuse the assistance.[153] Its jobless rate in June was 7.2 percent, up from 3.1 percent in March, though down from 10.9 percent in April.[145] Acceptance of the funding required the state to augment the benefit by $100 unless other jobless assistance allowed the match to be waived.[153]
In February 2020, Noem announced her opposition to a bill prohibiting schools and universities from requiring students to get vaccinated.[154] In May 2021, she signed an executive order prohibiting government facilities from requiring proof of vaccination to access services, a policy she called "un-American."[155] In August 2021, Noem opposed legislation proposed by Republican state legislators
Jon Hansen and
Scott Odenbach that would prohibit businesses from requiring vaccinations as a condition for employment.[156]
Noem supported the annual
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August 2020, despite warnings from experts that it could spread COVID-19.[157] Nearly 500,000 bikers attended the event.[158] Public health notices were issued for saloons and other businesses in the Sturgis area. By the end of August, dozens of cases linked to attendance at the event were reported in several states.[159][160][161]
In September 2020, amid a surge of new cases, Noem announced that she would spend $5 million of relief funding on a state tourism campaign.[125] She used $819,000 of those funds to have the state's Department of Tourism run a 30-second
Fox News commercial she narrated during the
2020 Republican National Convention.[162] During September, over 550 students became infected at South Dakota universities; 200 more cases were reported in
K–12 schools.[145]
In October 2020, as South Dakota reported the country's second-highest number of new COVID-19 cases per capita and hospitals began to prioritize treatment of severe COVID-19 cases over lesser ones, Noem said the higher case numbers were because of more testing, despite the positive test rate and hospitalization rate also increasing.[163]
In February 2021, Noem signed a bill limiting civil liability for certain exposures to COVID-19. The bill exempts health care providers and other businesses, including those selling
personal protective equipment, from lawsuits unless COVID-19 exposure was the result of gross negligence, recklessness, or willful misconduct.[164]
In July 2021, Noem criticized other Republican governors for enacting mandatory measures against COVID-19 and trying to "rewrite history" about it.[165] She argued that South Dakota had effectively combated the pandemic by instead testing and isolating cases; in fact, South Dakota had the 10th-highest death rate and third-highest case rate at that time.[165] Less than two years later, it had the 22nd-highest death rate and 26th-highest case rate among the 50 states.[166]
Department of Corrections
In July 2021, Noem placed Secretary of the
Department of Corrections Mike Liedholt on administrative leave, and fired
South Dakota State Penitentiary Warden Darin Young and Deputy Warden Jennifer Dreiske, after receiving an anonymous note with complaints regarding pay, medical coverage and instances of sexual harassment.[167][168] Liedholt later announced his retirement.[169] Later that month, after meeting with prison employees, despite lingering COVID-19 cases, Noem ended the prison's mask mandate.[170] In August 2021, Noem announced that the CGL Group, a California-based company, was being hired for $166,410 to do a comprehensive review of the Department of Corrections operations.[171] At the same time, the director of the prison work program was fired, and two other DOC employees relieved of their duties.
The prison work program director, Stephany Bawek, subsequently filed a complaint with the
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging that she was retaliated against for reporting sexual harassment by Young.[172] On March 14, 2022, Bawek filed a lawsuit in federal district court alleging that she was fired for reporting incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace.[173][174]
Deployment of South Dakota National Guard to southern border (2021)
In June 2021, Noem announced that she was sending members of the
South Dakota National Guard to Texas's border with Mexico.[175] Tennessee billionaire
Willis Johnson and his wife Reba said they would donate the money necessary for the deployment.[176] On September 22, 2021, the
Center for Public Integrity sued the South Dakota National Guard and the U.S. Department of Defense in the federal district court in the District of Columbia to obtain documents about the deployment and the donation.[177] The
2022 National Defense Authorization Act banned National Guard members from crossing state borders to perform duties paid for by private donors.[178]
Fireworks at Mount Rushmore lawsuit (2021)
In 2021, Noem sued U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Deb Haaland, seeking to have fireworks at
Mount Rushmore for
Independence Day. (Fireworks displays had been halted at the site in 2009 by the
National Park Service due to fire risks and other reasons.)[179][180] Noem hired the private Washington D.C. law firm Consovoy McCarthy to bring the case, with South Dakota state taxpayer money paying for the suit.[181] The U.S. District Court dismissed the suit, with Judge
Roberto Lange finding that four of the five reasons given by the NPS and Secretary Haaland were valid.[182] On July 13, Noem filed an appeal with the
8th Circuit Court of Appeals.[183]
On March 14, 2022, the National Park Service again denied Noem's application for a permit to have fireworks at Mount Rushmore for the 4th of July, citing opposition from Native American groups and the possibility of wildfires.[184]
Governor's mansion spending
In May 2019, Noem proposed to build a fence around the governor's mansion, estimated to cost approximately $400,000, but retracted the proposal.[185][186] In 2020, the 2019 project was revived; a senior Noem advisor told the media that the decision was based on the recommendations of Noem's security team.[187] In late November 2021, it was reported that Noem spent $68,000 of taxpayer dollars on imported rugs from India, chandeliers and a sauna for the mansion.[188]
Guns
In 2019, Noem signed a bill into law abolishing South Dakota's permit requirement to carry a concealed handgun.[189][190][191] In 2022, she sought to build a gun range in
Meade County with government funds, but the legislature rejected it.[192][193][194]
At a 2023
NRA forum in Indiana, Noem said that her two-year-old granddaughter had a shotgun, a rifle, and a "little pony named Sparkles".[195]
LGBTQ rights
Noem opposes
same-sex marriage. In 2015 she said she disagreed with Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional.[196]
On March 8, 2021, Noem announced on Twitter that she would sign into law H.B. 1217, the
Women's Fairness in Sports Bill,[197] which bans
transgender athletes from playing on or against women's school and college sports teams. Some critics of the bill said they were worried it might turn away business and cost the state money.[198] On March 19, Noem issued a style and form veto to H.B. 1217 that substantially altered the bill, not just correcting grammar and spelling mistakes.[199] She defended her position on Tucker Carlson Tonight.[200] On March 29, the
South Dakota House rejected Noem's veto, 67–2.[201] The bill was returned to Noem for reconsideration, and she vetoed it again.[202] The House failed to override her veto, by a vote of 45-24 (47 votes were needed to override).[203] Many conservative commentators criticized Noem for vetoing the bill.[204][205]
In December 2021, Noem and her office signaled their support for an anti-trans bill called "An Act to protect fairness in women's sports." The bill would require young athletes to join teams that aligned with their biological sex at birth.[206]
In 2021, Noem signed a religious refusal bill into law; the legislation amended the
state RFRA to allow businesses owners to cite religious beliefs as a basis to deny products or services to people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.[207] The legislation, S.B. 124, was criticized by civil rights groups who said it would enable discrimination against
LGBTQ+ people, women, and members of minority faiths.[208][209] This bill was the first major state RFRA law signed into law in six years and resembles the 2015 bill signed into law by Indiana Governor
Mike Pence.[210]
"Meth. We're on It" campaign
On November 18, 2019, Noem released a
meth awareness campaign named "Meth. We're on It". The campaign was widely mocked and Noem was criticized for spending $449,000 of
public funds while hiring an out-of-state advertising agency from Minnesota to lead the project.[211] She defended the campaign as successful in raising awareness.[212]
Opposition to cannabis legalization
In 2020, Noem opposed two ballot measures to legalize cannabis for
medical use and
recreational use in South Dakota,[213] saying, "The fact is, I've never met someone who got smarter from smoking pot. It's not good for our kids. And it's not going to improve our communities."[214] After both measures passed, she and two police officers filed a lawsuit seeking a court decision against the measure legalizing recreational use,
Amendment A.[215][216] On February 8, 2021, circuit court judge Christina Klinger struck down the amendment as unconstitutional.[217] After the ruling, she also sought to delay the implementation of the medical marijuana initiative for a year.[218] Ultimately, her efforts failed and medical marijuana became legal on July 1, 2021.[219]
Noem has also opposed the cultivation of
industrial hemp, vetoing a bill that passed the South Dakota House and Senate in 2019 to legalize hemp cultivation. She said, "There is no question in my mind that normalizing hemp, like legalizing medical marijuana, is part of a larger strategy to undermine enforcement of the drug laws and make legalized marijuana inevitable."[220]
2020 presidential election
Noem claimed that the
2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump, was marred by widespread voter fraud; no evidence supports this claim.[221] On December 8, 2020, Noem tacitly acknowledged the outcome of the election when she referred to a "Biden administration" during her annual state budget address, but even after Biden was inaugurated in January, she still refused to accept that the election was "free and fair."[222][223][224] Noem was initially designated to be one of Trump's three
presidential electors for South Dakota,[225] but later withdrew. In 2020 the Trump-Pence ticket carried South Dakota, receiving 261,043 votes to 150,471 for the Biden-Harris ticket.[226][227]
After the
U.S. Capitol was attacked by a pro-Trump mob on January 6, 2021, disrupting the
counting of the electoral votes formalizing Biden's victory, Noem spoke out against the violence, saying, "We are all entitled to peacefully protest. Violence is not a part of that."[228][229] One day after calling for peace and reconciliation in the aftermath of the assault on the Capitol, Noem called the two newly elected Democratic senators from Georgia,
Jon Ossoff and
Raphael Warnock, "communists" in an op-ed for The Federalist, prompting criticism from South Dakota Democrats.[230]
Since the announcement of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, commentators have suggested that Trump might consider Noem as a running mate.[235] In September 2023, when asked on
Newsmax if she would agree to serve as Trump's running mate, Noem responded that she would "in a heartbeat".[236] At the February 2024
CPAC conference, Noem tied with
Vivek Ramaswamy as attendees' top choice for Trump's running mate, receiving 15% of the vote each in a straw poll.[237][238] Also that month, Trump acknowledged that Noem was one of the names on his shortlist to be his running mate.[239] In March 2024,
CNN reported that Noem was one of four people Trump had shown increased interest in selecting as his running mate.[240]
RV Park in Custer State Park proposal
In 2022, Noem sought to put a government paid RV park in Custer State Park.[241] The proposal was met with significant opposition to include government competing with private business and disturbing the pristine nature of the park.[242] The House Agricultural and Natural Resources deferred the bill to the 41st day, effectively killing it, by a vote of 9–3.
School prayer bill
In 2022, Noem sought to have
prayer put back in school after mentioning it in a speech in Iowa. On January 21, 2022, the "prayer bill", HB 1015, was defeated in the House Education Committee by a vote of 9–6. An aide to Noem admitted to the committee that no schools were consulted about the proposal.[243][244]
Staff
On November 19, 2021, Noem named her fifth chief of staff, Mark Miller, to replace outgoing chief of staff Aaron Scheibe.[245] Scheibe served as chief of staff from May 1 to November 19, 2021. Tony Venhuizen preceded Scheibe from March 2, 2020, to April 23, 2021. Josh Shields preceded Venhuizen from October 1, 2019, to January 1, 2020. Herb Jones was Noem's first chief of staff, serving from January 5 to October 1, 2019.[246][247][248][249]
Trade
In February 2019, she said that the
Trump administration's trade wars with
China and the
European Union had devastated South Dakota's economy, particularly the agricultural sector, "by far" the state's largest industry.[250]
She married Bryon Noem in 1992, in Watertown, South Dakota.[256] They have three children. In 2011, when Noem moved to Washington to take her congressional office, her family continued to live on a ranch near
Castlewood, South Dakota.[256]
Noem published her autobiography, Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland, on June 28, 2022.[259]
On September 15, 2023, the
New York Post and the
Daily Mail separately published allegations that Noem had had an ongoing affair with political operative
Corey Lewandowski, reportedly since at least 2019.[260][261][262][263] On September 18,
Sioux Falls Live reported that most state legislators felt that the story was a distraction, while noting that Noem had not yet denied the story.[264] On September 20, Noem's spokesperson denied the allegations.[265]
^"Kristi Noem". South Dakota Legislature Historical Listing. Archived from
the original on December 11, 2010. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
^"House Bill 1182". sdlegislature.gov. South Dakota Legislature. February 15, 2008.
Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
^"Senate Bill 70". sdlegislature.gov. South Dakota Legislature. March 13, 2009.
Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
^"Senate Bill 89". sdlegislature.gov. South Dakota Legislature. March 12, 2010.
Archived from the original on October 26, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
^Bolton, Alexander (January 1, 2011).
"A new order: House power players to watch in the 112th Congress". The Hill. Capitol Hill Publishing Corp.
Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2011. Noem and Scott ... will give the freshman class a voice in GOP leadership meetings and will press their leaders to take immediate steps to cut government spending significantly. Boehner and other House leaders will also rely on Noem and Scott to manage the expectations of the freshman class.
^"Noem wants to expand offshore energy production". KEVN-LD. March 31, 2011. Archived from
the original on October 3, 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2011. The bills would end the Obama administration's moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and require the re-opening of sales on oil leases in the Gulf and off the coast of Virginia.
^
abWoster, Kevin (March 20, 2011).
"Rough road ahead in Congress for Johnson wilderness plan". Rapid City Journal.
Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2011. Noem made opposition to Johnson's wilderness plan one of her prominent campaign points last year in her race against incumbent Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, a Democrat.
^Noem, Kristi (April 6, 2020).
"Executive Order 2020-12"(PDF). South Dakota Secretary of State.
Archived(PDF) from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
^Noem, Kristi (April 6, 2020).
"Executive Order 2020-13"(PDF). South Dakota Secretary of State.
Archived(PDF) from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
^Sergio Hernandez, Byron Manley, Sean O’Key and Henrik Pettersson (March 20, 2023).
"Tracking Covid-19 cases in the US", CNN. (According to Johns Hopkins data from January 2020 to March 2023, South Dakota had 361 deaths per 100,000 people, ranking the state 22nd among the 50 states, and 31,552 cases per 100,000 people, ranking South Dakota 26th.)
^"Complaint, Noem v. Haaland"(PDF). South Dakota Governor. State of South Dakota. April 30, 2021.
Archived(PDF) from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
^Mercer, Bob (December 13, 2020).
"Lederman in, Noem out as S.D. Trump elector".
KELO-TV.
Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021. The governor's communications director, Ian Fury, didn't respond to questions Saturday from KELOLAND News about what led to Lederman's substitution for her.