Meet a leading Trump vice-presidential contender
How Doug Burgum went from dark horse to favourite
![North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum waves at a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, May 11th 2024](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240713_USP002.jpg)
FEW CONSIDER North Dakota, home to just under 800,000 people, to be a political laboratory. Though a beautiful and pleasant place to raise a family, North Dakota lacks a tourist draw like South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore. And it was the only state that saw its population decline between 1930 and 2000, while America’s more than doubled in size. Yet the Peace Garden State has produced plenty of notable Americans. North Dakota’s hall of fame, a collection of portraits on the ground floor of the state’s 19-storey Art Deco capitol, honours authors, generals, Olympians, entertainers—and even some journalists. It also features the former CEO of Great Plains Software, Doug Burgum.
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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “North Dakota rising”
United States July 13th 2024
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