South Dakota is doing “very, very well” because of its conservative approach to business and its focus on protecting people’s lives while allowing them to make the decisions that are best for their families, Gov. Kristi Noem said Sunday in comments before her State of the State address later this week.
“South Dakota is defending its freedom,” the GOP governor, who is seeking reelection this year, said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The biggest threat we’re seeing is out of the federal government.”
Noem said that in her speech, she planned on “addressing critical race theory and also making sure that we’re protecting girls’ sports, again, with the strongest law in the nation already in South Dakota.”
The speech will also deal with the state’s “historic revenues” and the fight to keep the state’s residents from being subjected to federal vaccine mandates, said Noem.
“There are a lot of things that are going very, very well in South Dakota, and I think it’s because of our conservative approach to business and protecting people’s lives and their social decisions that they make for their families,” she added. “I think it’s incredibly important that we tell that story.”
Meanwhile, South Dakota has been supplying its residents with free COVID testing for over a year, and is making further moves that put the state “far above and beyond what the federal government has delivered.”
And while President Joe Biden makes promises, South Dakota is delivering, said Noem.
“I think that really is the story that has resonated throughout the last couple of years,” she said. “We trusted our people. We’ve given them personal responsibility to make the best decisions for their families, and we’ve supported them with resources. We kept our economy open and we’re benefiting from that. Our kids have been in classrooms.”
Noem also responded to the administration blaming meat producers for prices that are continuing to climb.
“They’re blaming the right people, but they’re doing the wrong thing,” Noem said, adding that the White House should do what former President Donald Trump did in a similar situation.
“He charged his Department of Justice to investigate the packers and go after them and make sure the antitrust, anti-competitive laws are being enforced and followed,” said Noem. “We have a huge issue with our packers, a huge issue with rising meat prices. But what Joe Biden is doing is trying to divert away from the real solution and to attack our way of life here in this country. So I’m going to keep pushing him.”
Noem said she’s been warning people for years that food supply is a national security issue.
“When another country grows our food for us and provides our food for us they control us,” she said. “What I’m concerned about, is the way this administration is attacking American enterprises and businesses and farmers and ranchers and not really dealing with the real issue, and that’s the control of out-of-country businesses.”
The population of South Dakota is also growing, and Noem said that’s because people want to live where their government respects them and they can have freedom.
As a result, South Dakota has had more than 15% growth as a result of economic principles, including there being no taxes on personal income, corporate income, or personal property, she said.
