A tale of two governors: Minnesota’s Walz shines by being himself, while Noem’s ambition reveals her true self

Only a state apart, but world's different on the political spectrum, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem have taken two different paths to national prominence.

Noem hitched her wagon to Donald Trump after endorsing Marco Rubio during the 2016 Republican primary. Noem said that Trump was not her candidate, after Trump went over the line with his comments about blocking Muslims from entering the U.S. 

Fast forward to a Trump presidency and Noem was one of his most enthusiastic supporters. She went so far as to use taxpayer money to install a $130,000 TV studio in the governor’s office in 2019 for national TV appearances while she shunned local and state media.

One book and a dead dog later, Noem essentially ended any chance she had at her goal of being the vice presidential nominee, even as the public saw her complete transformation into a Trump surrogate.

Compare Noem’s timeline with Walz’s, who came into national prominence just in the past week, supporting Kamala Harris by just being himself.

Walz (seen above in a public domain image posted on wikimedia commons) likely won’t end up as Harris’ VP pick, but he has put himself in the conversation, so much so that Bloomberg reported that Walz was among the final three, along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.

Two different approaches of reaching the same place.

There is value in being who you are. There is value in being authentic. There is value in being nice. There is value in not trying so hard.

In the end, people see you for who you really are.

Travis Kriens of Mitchell has been involved in the radio industry for the past 10 years in a variety of capacities from news director to sports director. He received a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from South Dakota State University in Brookings in May 2010 and graduated from SDSU in May 2012 with a master’s in sports pedagogy.