Doug Burgum vetoed anti-LGBTQ measures while governor. Then he started running for president

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — For most of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum's two terms in office, he approached the job like a CEO running a business.

The wealthy former software executive, now on a shortlist to be Donald Trump’s running mate, was laser-focused on priorities like strengthening the state's economy and cutting taxes. He mostly steered clear of social issues that animated many fellow Republicans, and he sometimes pushed back on them.

In 2020, Burgum criticized an anti-LGBTQ resolution of the state GOP as “hurtful and divisive rhetoric.” He vetoed a 2021 measure to ban transgender girls from playing on girls’ teams in public schools, saying it “would unnecessarily inject the state into a local issue by creating a ban with myriad unforeseen consequences.” In 2023, Burgum vetoed a bill he said would make teachers into “pronoun police.”

But as Burgum prepared a bid for the presidency that spring, he also signed a sheaf of bills that imposed restrictions on transgender people — including two that were nearly identical to the sports ban he vetoed in 2021. Another bill banned gender-affirming medical treatments for kids, and he signed a measure that had provisions nearly identical to parts of the pronoun bill he had vetoed earlier in 2023. Burgum also signed a book ban bill, though he did veto a second, further-reaching one. Opponents decried both bills for targeting LGBTQ themes.