South Dakota Gov. Noem Introduces Herself to Virginia GOP Insiders on Second Day of Advance

Attendees at the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) Advance heard speeches from two GOP governors who are talked about as potential presidential or vice presidential candidates. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin gave the luncheon address on Saturday, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem gave a dinner speech that was part self-introduction, part exhortation to RPV insiders.

“I cannot thank you enough for what you did here in Virginia last year,” Noem said. “I talk about you everywhere I go.”

Noem traced her history from childhood to operating the family businesses after her father died to the state legislature to Congress to the governorship.

“I think we’re crippling our children because we’re doing everything for them. My dad often gave us stuff that we just thought, as kids, he was trying to kill us,” she said.

She told a story of her father telling her to drive a loaded semi-truck home from one of the family’s fields.

“When it finally stopped, I thought to myself, ‘I cannot believe that I lived.’ But the next thought that I had was that ‘I bet I could drive anything now.’”… (Excerpt from the Virginia Star)