The most recent campaign finance reports, released Thursday, show that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum raised approximately $18 million for his six-month campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, with the vast majority – nearly $15 million – coming from loans the candidate made to the campaign.
In addition to campaign fundraising, the Doug Burgum for America spending report to the Federal Election Commission details how the campaign spent those funds.
Nearly $1 million was spent on ballot access, either paying states to include Burgum’s name on their primary ballots or providing “ballot access consulting services.” The campaign spent at least $10 million on advertising, which included ad strategy and consulting services.
The campaign also reimbursed at least five North Dakota State Patrol troopers for their travel expenses on the trail. One trooper was paid more than $18,000, while another received about $12,000. The five soldiers were paid a total of approximately $47,000. The North Dakota Highway Patrol also received a $5800 contribution from the campaign.
According to North Dakota law, the state patrol can provide security and protection for the governor and his immediate family “as deemed adequate by the superintendent” of the patrol, regardless of the governor’s physical location or the nature of his activities.
However, a letter from the governor’s Chief of Staff, Jace Beehler, to Col. Brandon Solberg on September 1 indicated that Burgum’s campaign for President of the United States posed a “unique situation.”
“With the campaign advancing into the fall, in an effort to minimize campaign-related travel expenses to the citizens of North Dakota, the campaign will assume the travel costs associated with security for the presidential campaign,” Beehler said in a statement.
KFGO News previously requested information about state-incurred security costs related to Burgum’s presidential campaign via open records requests. The state patrol declined to offer particular monetary amounts but confirmed that both state and campaign monies were used to pay for security and that specific officers were assigned to the detail.
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley agreed with the patrol’s decision not to reveal the security spending because “doing so would undermine the mission of those security resources by shedding light on the breadth and depth of that security.”
Burgum began his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on June 7 in Fargo and completed it on December 4. During the campaign, he visited Iowa and New Hampshire and debated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Simi Valley, California.
The campaign’s lodging expenses include repeated stays at luxury resorts and lodges in Deer Valley, Utah, Scottsdale, Arizona, Florida, Las Vegas, New York City, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Since withdrawing from the race, Burgum has campaigned for former President Donald Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire.