Kristi Noem

Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem (born November 30, 1971) is an American politician serving as the 33rd governor of South Dakota since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was the U.S. representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district from 2011 to 2019 and a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives for the 6th district from 2007 to 2011. She was elected as the state's first female governor in 2018. In November 2024, president-elect Donald Trump nominated Noem to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security in his second administration.

Congresswoman Noem in 2011

Quotes

2010–2011

• We need to simplify our tax code. We need to make sure that it’s not too cumbersome for people to be able to comply with. And that they don’t end up spending more money trying to file their taxes than they do actually paying in.
  • As cited by Kevin Woster in "Noem ad: poignant or political?", Rapid City Journal (May 9, 2010).

• What our family has done is participate in the farm programs. And so the farm programs I think essentially almost every farmer in South Dakota has participated in those, and they haven't been bailouts, they have been programs that the United States has put forward for farmers to participate in.
  • As cited by Tim Appel in "Noem on Bailouts", Rapid City Journal (October 13, 2010).

• I think the knowledge about how legislation really affects small businesses is extremely valuable. If you haven’t run a small business, then you don’t have this kind of knowledge about how a regulation passed or taxes increased affects your bottom line. If you recognize that every new regulation takes that much more time to comply with, requires that many more employees, then it really gives you that foundational basis to make those decisions.
  • As cited by Emily Miller in "Rep. Kristi Noem: Head of the Class", Human Events (February 14, 2011).

• We must stop spending money that we just don’t have. Historic debt leads to historic tax increases, which stifle job growth.”
  • As cited by Tom Lawrence in "S.D. Rep. Noem pushes for big cuts in federal spending", The Daily Republic (March 11, 2011).

• I am very concerned about the lack of a clear objective from the president on what his goals are in Libya and our role should be. As Obama has recently authorized the launch of air strikes in Libya, I believe the American people and Congress deserve an explanation. I'm asking for the president to explain. It's the president's responsibility to explain on what basis these actions are being taken.
  • As cited by David Montgomery in "Thune, Noem want answers on Libya", Rapid City Journal (March 24, 2011).

• When you look at February's (2011) deficit spending alone, and the fact that it was larger than what our total deficit spending was in 2007, the proposals that the Senate is sending us simply are ridiculous, because it's not even a solution. It doesn't address the amount of spending that we have in a week's time. We need to get serious.
  • As cited by Hiram Reisner in "Rep. Noem: Senate Budget Proposals 'Ridiculous'", NewsMax (March 11, 2011).

2024–present

• I wasn't in Mike Pence's shoes, and the information that he had at that time — I don’t know how he based his decisions [...] I think he’s a nice man. I think that he's failed Donald Trump since that day, because he certainly does not recognize that we need someone in the White House who needs him out on the trail advocating for him, instead of constantly criticizing and going back and ripping him apart.
  • Interviewed by Dana Bash (CNN, April 21, 2024), as cited in "Kristi Noem Refuses to Say Whether She Would Have Certified the Election on Jan. 6", The New York Times (April 21, 2024).

• I hated that dog.
• I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn't tell the story here.
  • From No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, as cited by Martin Pengelly in "Trump VP contender Kristi Noem writes of killing dog – and goat – in new book", The Guardian (April 26, 2024).

• We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years. [No Going Back contains] more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that'll have the media gasping.
  • Post on X/Tweet (April 26, 2024), as cited by Maegan Vazquez in "Democrats, political figures dogpile onto Trump VP hopeful after story of animal killings", The Washington Post (April 26, 2024).
  • Appears to confirm The Guardian account (cited above) by linking to it in her post.

About Noem

• Cricket’s bizarre manner of death, at the hand of a caretaker who allowed the puppy to wreak havoc and then made her pay for it, is relayed in a book scheduled for release at about the time Donald Trump might be deciding on his running mate. The Guardian got hold of a pre-release copy and told the tale of Cricket last weekend. Politicians complain of gotcha stories but this one is a gotme, told by Noem herself. As the news traveled, normal people wondered if Noem has a conscience. (Who executes a puppy?) Political people wondered if she has a brain. (Who admits to having executed a puppy?) But if you take the spotlight off the doomed dog, or the goat Noem claimed to have killed in crueler fashion (two shots were necessary), you can see how her ghoulishness fits into the mad mosaic of MAGA. It’s the cruelty, of course. And the gun.
  • Francis Wilkinson in Kristi Noem’s Cruelty Fits Right Into MAGA Gun Culture (1 May 2024)