North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R) has had some trouble getting his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination off the ground. And while he’s failed to move up much in the polls—a post-debate tally by Morning Consult put him at 0%, below “somebody else” at 1%—he did have some big news to share.
He met another Doug at a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Wednesday.
A post on Burgum’s Facebook page documented the encounter at the Novel Iron Works in Greenland, New Hampshire.
“Great crowd – even met another Doug!” Burgum posted.
Burgum’s path to the presidential nomination seems slim, though he has deep pockets. Burgum, a Stanford graduate who once worked for McKinsey, made $1.1 billion selling his share of an investment in an accounting software company to Microsoft in 2001, reported FiveThirtyEight.
When Burgum ran for governor in 2016 he got $100,000 from Bill Gates and he’s largely self-funded his campaign. According to the latest available FEC data, he’s given his campaign over $10,000,000 in loans.
He also used that wealth to get on the debate stage last week, offering gift cards to people who donated.
Most Americans said they’d never heard of him, 66% in a recent poll to be exact, reported Inforum, despite $11.4 million worth of ad spending boosting him by the Best of America PAC.
Burgum has said he’s cautious about criticizing former President Donald Trump in the race because he doesn’t have that much name recognition at the moment. “But it’s sort of odd, wouldn’t somebody being charged with 91 criminal counts be somebody that you’d want to see drop out of the race? I mean, should they even be running for office?” he told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press.
Todd told Burgum some voters would be frustrated by him not sharing his opinion on Trump.
“Well, Chuck, again, everybody’s at a different place. If I had 100%, national name recognition, if I’d run for president before, if I was living in a major media market and everybody in the country knew me, that’d be a different spot,” Burgum said.
Burgum’s constituents don’t seem to be missing him while he’s touring New Hampshire.
“I assume North Dakota does not need a governor,” commented Henry Lebak on Facebook. “State running fine without one.”
Lebak also posted that Burgum was “Just another version of Trump.”
“You should visit welding shops in ND,” commented Danielle Hatzenbuhler. “Oh boy!! What are the chances of meeting another Doug?”
Novel Iron Works didn’t respond to a question asking for more information about the Doug who Burgum met—neither did Doug Burgum’s campaign.
