Who Is Trump's Rumored New VP Contender, Doug Burgum?

On June 20, an X, formerly Twitter, user shared a video showing that TrumpBurgum dot com redirected to Donald Trump's website, hinting that Doug Burgum had been chosen as vice president. Although the domain no longer redirects to the MAGA website (if it ever truly did), Trump himself has previously sung the governor's praises. Doug Burgum, who was once a presidential candidate, might not be as popular as the other rumored VP options, but he is definitely one of the richest and most liked of the bunch.

Like Trump, Burgum is a billionaire businessman-turned-politician who became governor of North Dakota after a massive victory. However, unlike Trump, Burgum didn't initially have the support of the Republican party, who endorsed his rival for the GOP primaries. Another difference between the pair is that the VP-hopeful has achieved undisputed success in his sector and has glowing recommendations from his business associates.

Burgum graduated from Stanford in 1980 and became a business advisor right away. But he relocated to North Dakota to kickstart his tech career with Great Plains Software in 1983. That same year, he mortgaged his inherited property to buy parts of the company. When the owners wanted to sell the next year, he convinced his family to invest so that he could buy Great Plains and become president. Burgum's rise to wealth might seem dreamy, but it wasn't without its curve balls.

In another similarity to Donald Trump, Doug Burgum's grandparents were immigrants who moved to the tiny town of Arthur in North Dakota in 1882. While the Trumps were into real estate, the Burgums were farmers who established a grain elevator company. Doug Burgum's childhood was active and quite typical until his father passed away from a brain tumor when he was just 15 years old.

Speaking about the loss in 2023, Burgum explained that it changed his life (via WMUR): "From that moment on, I understood that life was short, and you had an opportunity to get up everyday and try to make a difference in people's lives." Luckily, his mother, family members, and even teachers did their best to ensure that he enjoyed a semblance of normalcy. He successfully completed high school and went on to attend North Dakota State University, before leaving the state to attend Stanford Business School.

After he became president of Great Plains, Burgum successfully scaled the company. In five years, from 1984 to 1989, he grew the company from 30 employees to 250! Eight years later, it went public before he sold to Microsoft for $1 billion in 2001. He went on to found at least two other successful companies before turning to politics in 2016.

Doug Burgum's first marriage was to Karen Stoker in 1991. They had three children, Joe, Jesse, and Tom Burgum, but divorced in 2003 after twelve years together. In 2016, weeks after winning the election, he married Kathryn Helgaas. Since becoming First Lady, she has championed causes to remove the stigma of addiction. When Doug Burgum was a presidential hopeful in 2023, he mentioned that Helgass had been sober for 21 years and was "a face and voice of recovery." 

Unfortunately, Burgum's relationship with Stoker is still sour. In 2020, when he was up for re-election, his ex-wife endorsed Shelly Lenz, his democratic rival. The endorsement didn't have much effect, however, as Burgum still won. Despite that victory, Burgum has chosen not to run for a third term — even though he technically can. North Dakota's limit on a governor's terms was established in 2022, but it only restricts governors who come after Burgum. Instead of competing for the gubernatorial seat, he has been pretty busy campaigning for Trump. 

After suspending his own presidential campaign in 2023, Burgum endorsed Trump and has now given more Trump-ordered speeches than any of the other VP picks per Axios. If the MAGA leader eventually picks Burgum, his financial status could also be a significant boost for the Republican party. Although, Donald Trump is in no rush to announce his 2024 vice president pick, sources report that he plans to make his choice public at the Republican National Convention in July.