Kristi Noem ‘not convinced’ she has to make a White House run in 2024
Jack Birle
Video Embed
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) insists she is focused on South Dakota and does not feel “convinced” she has to make a run for the White House in 2024.
Noem was pressed about prospective 2024 election ambitions by Robert Costa on CBS News’s Red and Blue.
WATCH: NOEM LABELS SOUTH DAKOTA ‘FREEST STATE IN THE NATION’ AT STATE OF THE STATE
“I get up every single day and work to help South Dakota be successful. I’m not convinced that I need to run for president, but I also believe that this country needs somebody to lead us that has a vision. That appreciates the freedoms that this country provides to the people that live here and really does want to protect them and our constitutional rights going forward. I think that as we go through the coming months, and even the next year, year and a half, that leader will emerge,” Noem said.
Noem deflected a follow-up question on whether she would travel to Iowa, which hosts the first caucuses of the 2024 cycle, but did say that she does not feel a rush to make a decision on a 2024 bid.
“I don’t, Bob, at all. No, I think it’s important that people focus on governing rather than going out and making big, broad statements and going out and taking action for their own political futures,” Noem said.
Noem wouldn’t say whether she plans to throw her support behind the only Republican currently in the 2024 race, former President Donald Trump. Although she withheld an endorsement, Noem praised the policies of the Trump administration.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Despite not saying whether she would run for president, Noem has taken aim at possible GOP presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) by criticizing his abortion policy for being too lenient.
“Where was Gov. DeSantis? Hiding behind a 15-week ban,” a spokesperson for Noem said in a statement to National Review. “Does he believe that 14-week-old babies don’t have a right to live?”