As Republican presidential candidates face off at the GOP's first debate next week, here's a Who's Who of the debate stage
Let’s take a closer look at each one: their backgrounds, their talents, and their chances.
Governor of North Dakota since 2016, software entrepreneur who sold his business to Microsoft for $1.1 billion, cofounder of a venture capital firm and noted philanthropist.
To increase his appeal to rural Americans who represent the backbone of the Republican Party, Doug Burgum — who grew up in a town of 300 people — contends that America needs a president with small-town values and not a city slicker. It’s a good line in sparsely populated Iowa and New Hampshire — the first two states to vote in the 2024 Republican primaries — but it’s a tougher sell in the big states that provide the bulk of the electoral votes needed to win in the general election.
Burgum has mostly confined his talking points to the economy, energy policy, and border security. He has stayed away from culture wars, saying that in North Dakota, woke means getting up at 5 a.m. to get to work. He hasn’t criticized Donald Trump publicly, saying he will leave that to the growing industry of anti-Trump pundits.
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