Kristi Noem Could Be Messing with Texas Gov
by Passing Hat with Abbott's Loudest Enemy

Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside
March 5, 2021

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem runs the risk of offending her counterpart in the Lone Star State with plans to raise money this month for the Texas Republican Party on an attention-grabbing national tour as the current favorite for the role of running mate for Donald Trump on the 2024 ticket if she isn't leading it herself.

Noem is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser on the state GOP's behalf on March 27 at the home of a local party activist in the suburban city of Frisco on the northern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Noem's next Texas stop could be viewed as a slap at Governor Greg Abbott as a consequence of association based on the fact that state party Chairman Allen West has been his most outspoken enemy in recent months.

Noem spurred speculation on a potential bid for higher office three years from now when she attended a fundraising event her 2022 re-election campaign one week ago at a ranch near the small Central Texas town of Cameron. Noem's stock soared the following day as the breakout star at the CPAC conference where she finished third behind Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a straw poll on White House preferences in 2024.

Noem steered her bid for a second term back to the Sunshine State on Friday night where she attended a fundraiser at Trump's resort home at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach. Donald Trump Jr. and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle sponsored the event for Noem in south Florida - adding fuel to conjecture about a race for national office as a potential vice-presidential nominee if she isn't the heir apparent to the Trump family base by then.

Abbott tied for last in the CPAC survey with 0 percent support - finishing with less than U.S. Senator Mitt Romney and former Ohio Governor John Kasich - a pair of moderates who are despised in the eyes of conservatives for refusing to bow to Trump. The Texas governor's goose egg at CPAC could make Noem's teaming with West in the Dallas area that much harder for Abbott to swallow.

West has attacked Abbott relentlessly for the restrictions that he's imposed during the coronavirus pandemic. But the governor has acted as though he's unaware of the Texas GOP chair or the stinging criticism that he's been firing at him since winning the partisan leadership as the finale for a state Republican convention that ended in an epic meltdown on Zoom in July.

Abbott has faced intense heat from conservatives for a statewide mask mandate that he had in place for eight months before rescinding it this week. Noem steadfastly refused to order the people in the state she leads to cover their faces in public despite the dangers that the lax approach posed to her state.

West is one of several potential names that have been floated as possible challengers for Abbott when he seeks a third term as governor in 2022. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton have been mentioned as potential contenders for the state's top prize next year.

But West and Noem have a history - having been members of the freshman class in the U.S. House in 2011 as representatives for Florida and South Dakota respectively.

West lasted two years before his ousting by a Democrat in his first campaign for re-election to Congress. Noem served as a U.S. representative for eight years before her promotion to her current post in 2018.