President-elect Trump said Thursday he would nominate North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) to serve as secretary of the Interior.
Trump made the announcement during a gala for the America First Policy Institute being held at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Burgum was in attendance.
The North Dakota governor ran an unsuccessful primary campaign before endorsing Trump earlier this year, and the two developed a strong political and personal relationship. Burgum was among the finalists to serve as Trump’s running mate, a position that went to Vice President-elect JD Vance (R-Ohio).
The Interior secretary oversees roughly 70,000 federal employees who manage the country’s natural resources and federal lands, including national parks and monuments.
In addition, the department has control over energy development both on public lands and offshore.
Burgum was on the short list to lead either the Department of Energy or Department of Interior, and he is expected to play a central role in Trump’s push to increase oil drilling and energy production. He will require Senate confirmation.
Burgum has taken climate change more seriously than many other major Republicans, including the president-elect, who has falsely claimed it is a hoax. As governor, he created the state’s Department of Environmental Quality in 2017 and in 2021 set a goal for the state to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
However, he has also been historically friendly with the oil industry, a major money maker in his state, and was one of 19 GOP governors to sign a letter pushing back on the Biden administration’s push for environmental and sustainable governance in the finance sector in 2023.
In his own presidential campaign, Burgum emphasized energy as one of his top priorities — saying he wanted to “dramatically increase energy production” on his campaign website.
Prior to his government role, Burgum worked in tech, playing a prominent role in a software company that was later acquired by Microsoft. He then worked at Microsoft as senior vice president.
Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk contributed
