South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) said Friday that Democratic governors who have pledged to resist President-elect Trump’s immigration policies are being “extremely irresponsible” and should instead seek dialogue with the incoming administration.
“If I had a new president in the White House, and even if he wasn’t from my political party, the first thing I would do would be call him up and see if I could get a meeting,” Noem said on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
The Republican governor dismissed early opposition from Democratic governors like Illinois’ JB Pritzker and California’s Gavin Newsom as “not a mature response” to Trump’s election victory.
Newsom, a fierce critic of Trump, called on lawmakers Thursday to convene a special session later this year to safeguard the state’s progressive policies on climate change, reproductive rights and immigration ahead of another Trump presidency.
The move — a day after the former president defeated Vice President Harris in the presidential race — effectively reignited California’s resistance campaign against conservative policies that state Democratic leaders started during the first Trump administration.
It is also part of a growing discussion among Democratic state officials across the country seeking to protect policies that face threats under Trump’s leadership.
Regarding her own potential cabinet position, the South Dakota governor deflected questions about reports she’s being considered to lead the Interior Department, saying only that “the only person who will make that decision is President Trump” while noting she “love[s] being governor of South Dakota.”
The governor also expressed support for the Justice Department’s decision to suspend investigations into Trump, saying it was “a good first step” toward restoring faith in federal law enforcement agencies. She said the president-elect had assured her he did not plan to pursue political prosecutions once he was in office.
“Trump ally and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is a possibility for Interior Secretary, according to a person familiar with the matter,” a Wall Street Journal story published Thursday that looked at a variety of potential cabinet appointments said.
She was the only one mentioned for the Interior Department slot.
If chosen and confirmed, Noem would replace the Biden administration’s Interior secretary, Deb Haaland, who, according to the department’s website, “made history when she became the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. She is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and a 35th-generation New Mexican.”
Among the U.S. Department of Interior’s official responsibilities are federal relationships with tribal governments, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education.
Noem, as governor, has faced ups and downs with tribal governments in South Dakota.
She offered emergency assistance after flooding in 2019, moved the state Office of Indian Education from the state Department of Education to the state Department of Tribal Affairs, has been banned from many of the nine reservations at different times and shifted funding so the state’s law enforcement training program could conduct the first-ever class for tribal officers this year.
Trump’s little-noticed campaign promise to shift thousands of federal employees who are in Washington, D.C., to “patriot-led states” also points to a potential gain for South Dakota.
The former president has won South Dakota all three of his presidential bids. On Tuesday, he received 272,000 votes vs. 146,837 for Harris. That 63 percent was slightly more than the 62 percent Trump received from the Mount Rushmore State’s voters in 2020 and 2016.
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
South Dakota’s KELO, a Nexstar affiliate, and The Associated Press contributed reporting.
