‘A FRIEND AND A PARTNER’

Doug Burgum Becomes First Failed GOP Candidate to Endorse Trump

The North Dakota governor, who ended his long-shot bid last month, is the first of the 2024 crop of Republican presidential candidates to formally tip his hand.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum endorsed Donald Trump on Sunday at the former president’s final in-person rally ahead of the Iowa caucuses, a month after abandoning his own long-shot bid for the presidency. Crowing that he was “here to do something that none of the other presidential primary candidates have done,” Burgum praised Trump’s policies in comparison to his predecessor. “Remember, when I first took office, President Obama was still president. Trying to work with his administration was a disaster,” Burgum said. “Then President Trump took office and everything changed. States like Iowa, states like North Dakota, heartland states, we were respected. We had a friend and a partner in the White House.” Burgum dropped out of the presidential race after failing to qualify for the third and fourth Republican debate. Polling abysmally at the time, his show of support is unlikely to contribute substantially to the outcome of the Monday caucuses, according to the Associated Press.