BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum is little-known on the national stage but is now a top choice to be former President Donald Trump' s vice presidential running mate.
The wealthy software entrepreneur has led North Dakota like a CEO. He's championed business-oriented items such as income tax cuts and tech upgrades for state government, from cybersecurity to state websites. He has not been outspoken on social issues, even as the state's Republican-led Legislature sent him a flurry of anti-LGBTQ+ bills last year. But after vetoing some of the bills in 2021 and 2023, he later signed most of them — around the same time he was preparing a 2024 presidential bid that fizzled within months.
Here are some takeaways on Burgum and his actions:
Burgum, 67, grew up in a tiny North Dakota town. After college, he led Great Plains Software, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2001 for $1.1 billion. Burgum stayed on as a vice president with Microsoft until 2007. He went on to lead other companies in real estate development and venture capital.
Burgum was largely known as a software executive and businessman before his upset campaign for governor in 2016 when he beat the state's longtime attorney general in the GOP primary. He ran on “reinventing” government as the state grappled with a $1 billion revenue shortfall.
Burgum campaigned in 2016 as a business leader and has governed with the same approach. He's talked about “treating taxpayers like customers." He brought some Microsoft veterans and other private-sector people into state government.
He's pushed income tax cuts, cybersecurity enhancements, state website upgrades, cuts to state regulations and changes to higher education governance and animal agriculture laws. The planned Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is one of his biggest efforts.
Burgum can talk at length about carbon capture, energy policy and other topics of interest to him. He frequently boasts of North Dakota's underground “geologic jackpot” for carbon dioxide storage, and touts an approach of “innovation over regulation.”
People who have worked with him in the governor's office say he's extremely inquisitive and works long hours.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers who have worked with Burgum say it was disappointing to see him sign a sheaf of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2023, and that he might have been eyeing the national stage as he did so. Burgum launched a bid for president in June 2023, about a month after the legislative session ended.
In 2021, Burgum vetoed a bill banning transgender girls from public schools' girls sports. In early 2023, he vetoed a bill he said would make teachers into “pronoun police.”
But later in the 2023 session, as he prepared to run for president, he signed the slew of bills restricting transgender people, including a ban on gender-affirming medical treatments for kids and two sports bans similar to the bill he vetoed in 2021.
He also signed a book ban bill but vetoed a further-reaching one. Opponents said the bills went after LGBTQ+ literature.
Burgum also signed a bill that revised North Dakota's abortion laws after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. The state's abortion ban is one of the strictest in the U.S. Burgum has not been outspoken on LGBTQ+ issues or abortion.
Burgum ended his presidential campaign in December 2023, having failed to gain traction. The next month, he said he wouldn't seek a third term as governor.
FILE - North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, is interviewed on FOX News Sunday, anchored by Shannon Bream, June 16, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE - Republican presidential candidate North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum addresses attendees at the Republican Party of Florida Freedom Summit, Nov. 4, 2023, in Kissimmee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump reaches out to shake hands with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and his wife Kathryn Helgaas Burgum after arriving at Hector International Airport in Fargo, N.D., Sept. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks at the state Capitol April 10, 2020, in Bismarck, N.D. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File)
DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial Monday after jurors deadlocked in the case of Karen Read, a woman accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend by striking him with her SUV and leaving him in a snowstorm, a case that drew outsize attention thanks to true crime fanatics, conspiracy theorists and Read’s pink-shirted supporters.
Prosecutors said in a statement that they intend to retry the case.
Read, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, faced second-degree murder and other charges in the death of Officer John O’Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police who was found outside a Canton home of another Boston police officer in January 2022. An autopsy found O’Keefe died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.
Prosecutors said Read and O’Keefe had been drinking heavily before she dropped him off at a party at the home of Brian Albert, a fellow officer. They said she hit him with her SUV before driving away.
The defense sought to portray Read as the victim, saying O’Keefe was actually had been killed inside Albert’s home and then dragged outside and left for dead. They argued that investigators focused on Read because she was a “convenient outsider” who saved them from having to consider other suspects, including Albert and other law enforcement officers at the party.
On Friday, a jury foreperson told the judge that they hadn’t reached a unanimous verdict despite an “exhaustive review of the evidence.” The judge told jurors to keep trying. On Monday morning, jurors said they were at an impasse, but the judge asked them to continue deliberating. In the afternoon, they said it would be futile to continue.
“The deep division is not due to a lack of effort or diligence but rather a sincere adherence to our individual principles or moral convictions," the jury said in a note read by the judge in court.
O’Keefe’s mother cried after the mistrial was declared, while Read hugged her father and other relatives.
The Norfolk County district attorney's office said in a statement: “First, we thank the O’Keefe family for their commitment and dedication to this long process. They maintained sight of the true core of this case — to find justice for John O’Keefe. The Commonwealth intends to re-try the case.”
Defense attorney Alan Jackson said he and others representing Read will keep fighting.
“They failed. They failed miserably, and they’ll continue to fail. No matter how long it takes, no matter how long they keep trying, we will not stop fighting,” he told reporters outside court.
Testimony during the two-month trial focused on shoddy police work and relationships between the parties. Police acknowledged using red plastic cups to collect blood evidence and a leaf blower to try to clear away snow to reveal evidence. The lead investigator acknowledged making crude statements about Read in texts from his personal cellphone.
Experts disagreed on whether O’Keefe’s injuries were consistent with being hit by Read’s luxury SUV, which had a broken taillight. The defense contended the injuries were caused by an altercation and the Albert family’s aggressive dog.
While the drama played out in a courtroom, dozens of Read’s supporters dressed in pink gathered each day outside, carrying “Free Karen Read” signs and mobbing her when she arrived each day. Motorists honked their horns in support. A smaller group of people who want Read convicted also turned up.
Prosecutors relied on several first responders who testified that Read admitted that she hit O’Keefe — saying “I hit him” — as well as evidence that Read was legally intoxicated or close to it eight hours later, after she returned to the house with friends and they found the body.
Several witnesses testified the couple had a stormy relationship that had begun to sour. Prosecutors presented angry texts between the couple hours before O’Keefe died. They also played voice messages from Read to O’Keefe that were left after she allegedly struck him, including one left minutes afterward saying, “John I (expletive) hate you.”
Defense attorneys sought to poke holes in the police investigation, noting that Albert’s house was never searched for signs of a fight involving O’Keefe and that the crime scene was not secured. They suggested that some evidence -- like pieces of her SUV’s cracked taillight, a broken drinking glass and even a strand of hair -- was planted by police.
A turning point in the trial came when lead investigator, State Trooper Michael Proctor, took the stand. He acknowledged sending offensive texts about Read to friends, family and fellow troopers during the investigation. He apologized for the language he used but insisted they had no influence on the investigation.
In his texts, he called Read several names, including “whack job.” At one point, he texted his sister that he wished Read would “kill herself,” which he told jurors was a figure of speech. And despite having relationships with several witnesses, he remained on the case.
Two expert witnesses hired by the U.S. Department of Justice during an investigation of police handling of the case testified for the defense, providing a scientific analysis for their conclusion that O’Keefe’s injuries and the physical evidence didn’t sync with the prosecution theory that he was struck and injured by Read’s 7,000-pound (3,175-kilogram) vehicle.
O’Keefe had a significant head injury and other injuries but lacked significant bruising or broken bones typically associated with being hit by a vehicle at the speed indicated by GPS and the SUV’s onboard computer.
Before the jury enters, Judge Beverly J. Cannone, right, speaks to the defense and prosecution during the Karen Read trial at the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday, July 1, 2024. This is their fifth day of deliberations in the murder trial for Read. Read is accused of backing her SUV into her Boston Police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, and leaving him to die in a blizzard in Canton, in 2022. (Pat GreenhouseThe Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Karen Read, center, arrives at Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend Boston police Officer John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday, June 25. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Karen Read, center, arrives at Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend Boston police Officer John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday, June 25. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Judge Beverly J. Cannone speaks in Norfolk Superior Court, on their fifth day of deliberations in the murder trial for Karen Read in Dedham, Mass., Monday, July 1, 2024. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Judge Beverly J. Cannone greets jurors in Norfolk Superior Court, on their fifth day of deliberations in the murder trial for Karen Read in Dedham, Mass., Monday, July 1, 2024. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Paul O'Keefe, center, brother of the late Boston police Officer John O'Keefe, enters Norfolk Superior Court with his wife Erin O'Keefe, front left, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday, June 25. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Jean Allan, of Weymouth, Mass., front, a supporter of Karen Read, displays a sign to passing cars near Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend Boston police Officer John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday, June 25. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
All stand as the jury files out to the courtroom, to start their fifth day of deliberations in the murder trial for Karen Read in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday, July 1, 2024. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Flags, flowers and remembrances flank the headstone of John O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, at Blue Hill Cemetery, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Braintree, Mass. A jury is deliberating the fate of O'Keefe's girlfriend, Karen Read, who is charged with second-degree murder in O'Keefe's death. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Karen Read talks with her legal team at the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday, July 1, 2024. This is their fifth day of deliberations in the murder trial for Read. Read is accused of backing her SUV into her Boston Police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, and leaving him to die in a blizzard in Canton, in 2022. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
An empty flagpole is seen outside the residence where the body of John O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, was found on Jan. 29, 2022, outside the home, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Canton, Mass. The fate of Karen Read, who is charged with second-degree murder in the death is in the hands of a jury currently deliberating her case. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
This photo undated photo released by the Boston Police Department shows officer John O'Keefe. (Boston Police Department via AP)
Karen Read, center, arrives at Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend Boston police Officer John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday, June 25. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
