Kristi Noem is an American politician and Air Force Auxiliary officer. A Republican, she served as the 33rd governor of South Dakota from 2019 to 2025. Before becoming governor, Noem represented South Dakota's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019. Since 2025 she has served as the 8th United States secretary of homeland security.
On November 30, 1971, Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem was born in Watertown, South Dakota.
In 1990, Kristi Noem began attending Northern State University.
In 1990, Kristi Noem graduated from Hamlin High School and was crowned South Dakota Snow Queen.
Kristi Noem married Bryon Noem in 1992, in Watertown, South Dakota.
In March 1994, Kristi Noem's father passed away in a farm machinery accident, leading her to leave college to manage the family farm.
On April 21, 1994, Kristi Noem's daughter, Kassidy, was born.
In 2006, Kristi Noem was elected as a Republican to the South Dakota House of Representatives for the 6th district with 39% of the vote.
In 2007, Kristi Noem began serving in the South Dakota House of Representatives.
In 2008, Kristi Noem was re-elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives with 41% of the vote.
In 2009, Kristi Noem served as vice chair of the Agriculture Land Assessment Advisory Task Force.
In 2009, the National Park Service halted fireworks displays at Mount Rushmore due to fire risks and other reasons. This action later led to a lawsuit by Kristi Noem in 2021.
In August 2010, Kristi Noem indicated in a questionnaire that she would vote to ban embryonic stem-cell research.
In 2010, Kristi Noem co-sponsored bills that she argued would reduce American dependence on foreign oil by ending the 2010 United States deepwater drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 2010, Kristi Noem concluded her service in the South Dakota House of Representatives.
In 2010, Kristi Noem was elected to South Dakota's at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
On March 8, 2011, Kristi Noem announced the formation of a leadership political action committee, KRISTI PAC.
In March 2011, Kristi Noem was critical of President Barack Obama's approach to the NATO-led military intervention in the 2011 Libyan civil war.
In March 2011, Kristi Noem was elected as liaison to the House Republican leadership by the freshman class.
In 2011, Kristi Noem concluded her service in the South Dakota House of Representatives.
In 2011, Kristi Noem moved to Washington to take her congressional office, while her family continued to live on a ranch near Castlewood, South Dakota.
In 2011, Kristi Noem represented South Dakota's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 2011, Kristi Noem sponsored a measure to block Environmental Protection Agency funding for tighter air pollution standards for coarse particulates.
In 2011, Kristi Noem voted for S. 365, The Budget Control Act of 2011, which allowed Obama to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts. She also expressed her desire to eliminate the estate tax, lower the corporate tax rate, and simplify the tax code.
In 2012, Kristi Noem obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from South Dakota State University and was dubbed Capitol Hill's "most powerful intern".
In 2012, Kristi Noem was named one of the 12 regional directors for the National Republican Congressional Committee by Representative Pete Sessions.
In 2013, Kristi Noem began serving on the House Armed Services Committee.
In 2014, Kristi Noem worked on the National Defense Authorization Act as part of the House Armed Services Committee.
In 2015, Kristi Noem co-sponsored a bill to amend the 14th Amendment defining human life and personhood as beginning at fertilization, federally banning abortion from that moment.
In 2015, Kristi Noem co-sponsored legislation to define human life and personhood as beginning at the moment of fertilization, without exceptions for in-vitro fertilization or embryonic stem-cell research.
In 2015, Kristi Noem expressed disagreement with Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional.
In 2015, Kristi Noem finished serving on the House Armed Services Committee.
The religious refusal legislation signed by Kristi Noem in 2021 resembles the 2015 bill signed into law by Indiana Governor Mike Pence, which also sparked controversy.
In November 2016, Kristi Noem announced she would run for governor of South Dakota in 2018 rather than seek reelection to Congress.
In 2017, Kristi Noem supported President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769, which suspended the U.S. refugee program for 120 days and banned travel from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.
In 2017, Kristi Noem was on the conference committee that negotiated the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which she said gave the average South Dakota family a $1,200 tax cut.
In 2018, Kristi Noem pitched her online sales tax bill to members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
In 2018, Kristi Noem was elected as Governor of South Dakota.
In 2018, Kristi Noem was elected as the first female governor of South Dakota, with the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
In 2018, Noem's family was attending a Foursquare Church in Watertown, South Dakota.
While running for governor in 2018, Kristi Noem made government transparency part of her platform.
On January 5, 2019, Kristi Noem was sworn in as governor of South Dakota, becoming the first woman in that office in the state.
In February 2019, Kristi Noem stated that the Trump administration's trade wars with China and the European Union had devastated South Dakota's economy, especially the agricultural sector.
In May 2019, Kristi Noem proposed building a fence around the governor's mansion at an estimated cost of $400,000, but later retracted the proposal.
Josh Shields preceded Tony Venhuizen as chief of staff from October 1, 2019, to January 1, 2020.
On November 18, 2019, Kristi Noem released a meth awareness campaign named "Meth. We're on It". The campaign was widely mocked, and she was criticized for spending public funds on an out-of-state advertising agency.
From 2019, Kristi Noem served as the 33rd governor of South Dakota.
In 2019, Kristi Noem consented to South Dakota's participation in the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program following a Trump executive order.
In 2019, Kristi Noem left Congress after serving since 2011.
In 2019, Kristi Noem signed a bill into law that abolished South Dakota's permit requirement to carry a concealed handgun.
In 2019, Kristi Noem signed anti-protest legislation developed in collaboration with TransCanada Corporation in response to protests against the Keystone Pipeline.
In 2019, Kristi Noem signed bills restricting abortion, stating they would "crack down on abortion providers in South Dakota".
In 2019, Kristi Noem vetoed a bill that passed the South Dakota House and Senate to legalize hemp cultivation, expressing concerns about undermining drug law enforcement.
Josh Shields' term as chief of staff ended on January 1, 2020.
Tony Venhuizen preceded Aaron Scheibe as chief of staff from March 2, 2020, to April 23, 2021.
On March 13, 2020, Kristi Noem ordered K-12 schools to close in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 6, 2020, Kristi Noem issued an executive order that said people "shall" follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She also ordered everyone over age 65 in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties to stay home for three weeks.
On April 9, 2020, the Food Safety and Inspection Service said its inspectors would be allowed to wear masks if the meatpacking plants' owners gave the federal employees permission to do so.
On April 13, 2020, Kristi Noem told Fox News that she believed "99 percent of what's going on today wasn't happening inside the facility" regarding the COVID-19 outbreak at the Smithfield pork plant.
Around April 2020, Kassidy Peters received an Agreed Disposition regarding her real estate appraisal license.
On July 3, 2020, Kristi Noem did not mandate social distancing or the wearing of face masks at an event at Mount Rushmore with then-President Trump present. She publicly doubted scientific recommendations on the usefulness of masks, citing analysis by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Around July 20, 2020, Kassidy Peters received a letter and/or Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law when she failed to meet the requirements of the Agreed Disposition.
Kristi Noem gave a speech at the August 2020 Republican National Convention, which elevated her national profile, rewarding her for her COVID-19 response. The Argus Leader called the RNC speech a "defining moment in her political career".
On October 22, 2020, COVID-19 patients hospitalized in South Dakota reached a record high of 355, including 75 in Intensive Care Units, following a drastic increase in COVID cases after the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, in which Noem participated.
In November 2020, during a surge in COVID-19 cases, Kristi Noem used pandemic relief funds to promote tourism in South Dakota. She did not implement face mask mandates and raised doubts about the efficacy of mask-wearing.
On December 8, 2020, Kristi Noem tacitly acknowledged the outcome of the presidential election when she referred to a "Biden administration" during her annual state budget address.
As of December 2020, Kristi Noem was one of the few governors who had not maintained statewide stay-at-home orders or face-mask mandates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Kristi Noem opposed two ballot measures to legalize cannabis for medical and recreational use in South Dakota. After both measures passed, she and two police officers filed a lawsuit against the recreational use measure.
In 2020, Kristi Noem opted South Dakota out of the federal program providing enhanced weekly unemployment benefits of $300, citing a low state unemployment rate, making South Dakota the only state to refuse the assistance.
In 2020, after Kristi Noem's daughter, Kassidy Peters, was denied a real estate appraisal license, Noem summoned Sherry Bren, a state employee who directed South Dakota's Appraiser Certification Program, to her office. Attendees included Peters, Noem's chief of staff, a Department of Labor Attorney, and the Labor Secretary.
In 2020, after a federal court struck down sections of the legislation as unconstitutional, Kristi Noem brought legislation to repeal sections of the previous bill and clarify the definition of "incitement to riot".
In 2020, one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S. occurred in South Dakota, particularly at the Smithfield Foods production plant in Sioux Falls. Kristi Noem publicly expressed the view that employees' "home and social" habits were spreading the contagion.
In 2020, the Trump-Pence ticket carried South Dakota, receiving 261,043 votes. Kristi Noem was initially designated as one of Trump's presidential electors for South Dakota but later withdrew.
In 2020, the fence project proposed in 2019 for the governor's mansion was revived based on the recommendations of Kristi Noem's security team.
This entry provides a summary that from 2020 to 2021, the following events took place. No specific event on that day.
After the U.S. Capitol was attacked by a pro-Trump mob on January 6, 2021, Kristi Noem spoke out against the violence. The next day, she called the newly elected Democratic senators from Georgia "communists", prompting criticism.
On February 8, 2021, circuit court judge Christina Klinger struck down the amendment legalizing recreational marijuana as unconstitutional. After the ruling, she also sought to delay the implementation of the medical marijuana initiative for a year.
On March 8, 2021, Kristi Noem announced on Twitter her intent to sign into law H.B. 1217, the Women's Fairness in Sports Bill, which aimed to ban transgender athletes from women's school and college sports teams.
Aaron Scheibe served as chief of staff from May 1 to April 23, 2021.
Despite attempts to delay its implementation, medical marijuana became legal in South Dakota on July 1, 2021.
In July 2021, Kristi Noem placed Secretary of the Department of Corrections Mike Liedholt on administrative leave, and fired South Dakota State Penitentiary Warden Darin Young and Deputy Warden Jennifer Dreiske, after receiving an anonymous note with complaints. Noem also ended the prison's mask mandate.
In August 2021, Kristi Noem announced that the CGL Group was hired for $166,410 to comprehensively review the Department of Corrections operations. The director of the prison work program was also fired, and two other DOC employees were relieved of their duties.
In September 2021, American Greatness reported that Noem was having an extramarital affair with Corey Lewandowski, which Noem denied, calling it a "disgusting lie".
On September 22, 2021, the Center for Public Integrity sued the South Dakota National Guard and the U.S. Department of Defense in the federal district court in the District of Columbia to obtain documents about the deployment to Texas's border with Mexico and the donation from Willis Johnson to fund it.
In October 2021, the State Senate's Government Operations and Audit Committee invited Marcia Hultman and Sherry Bren to discuss the appraisal program in light of the controversy.
On November 1, 2021, the Government Accountability Board set an agenda to discuss the issue regarding Noem's daughter's real estate appraisal license and another issue based on complaints brought by Ravnsborg.
In November 2021, Kristi Noem announced that she was running for reelection as governor of South Dakota.
In late November 2021, it was reported that Kristi Noem spent $68,000 of taxpayer dollars on imported rugs from India, chandeliers and a sauna for the governor's mansion.
On November 19, 2021, Kristi Noem named Mark Miller as her fifth chief of staff, replacing Aaron Scheibe.
On December 14, 2021, Sherry Bren testified before the Government Operations and Audit Committee, stating that Kassidy Peters received an Agreed Disposition around March/April 2020 and later a letter/Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law around July 20, 2020, for failing to meet the Agreed Disposition requirements.
On December 15, 2021, the Government Accountability Board referred one of the two complaints to Noem for a response and sent the other back to the complainant for further information.
In December 2021, Kristi Noem and her office signaled their support for a bill called "An Act to Protect Fairness in women's sports," which would require young athletes to join teams aligning with their biological sex at birth.
In 2021, Kristi Noem signed a religious refusal bill into law, amending the state RFRA to allow business owners to cite religious beliefs as a basis to deny products or services to people based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
In 2021, Kristi Noem sued U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to allow fireworks at Mount Rushmore for Independence Day, which had been halted in 2009 due to fire risks. The U.S. District Court dismissed the suit, but Noem filed an appeal.
This entry provides a summary that from 2020 to 2021, the following events took place. No specific event on that day.
On January 21, 2022, the "prayer bill", HB 1015, which Kristi Noem advocated for, was defeated in the House Education Committee by a vote of 9–6.
On February 3, 2022, the Government Accountability Board referred the second complaint to Noem for a response and gave her until April 15, 2022, to answer both pending complaints.
In February 2022, House Democratic Minority Leader Jamie Smith announced he was seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.
On February 24, 2022, Republican State Representative John Mills introduced House Resolution 7004, "Addressing the Governor's unacceptable actions in matters related to the appraiser certification program", against Kristi Noem.
On March 14, 2022, Stephany Bawek, former prison work program director, filed a lawsuit in federal district court alleging that she was fired for reporting incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Kristi Noem had until April 15, 2022, to answer both pending complaints referred to her by the Government Accountability Board.
In 2022, Kristi Noem issued an order banning TikTok from state-owned devices, citing concerns that the Chinese Communist Party uses information gathered on TikTok to manipulate the American people.
In 2022, Kristi Noem published her autobiography, "Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland".
In 2022, Kristi Noem sought to build a gun range in Meade County using government funds, but the legislature rejected the proposal.
In 2022, Kristi Noem sought to locate a government-paid RV park in Custer State Park, but the proposal faced significant opposition and was effectively killed in the House Agricultural and Natural Resources committee.
In 2022, Kristi Noem stated she believes the science on climate change has been varied and has not been proven to her that human actions are affecting the climate.
In 2022, the National Defense Authorization Act banned National Guard members from crossing state borders to perform duties paid for by private donors.
In September 2023, Kristi Noem endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries at a rally hosted for him in Rapid City, South Dakota.
In September 2023, similar reports about Noem and Lewandowski were published by the New York Post and the Daily Mail, which Noem's spokesman also denied.
In September 2023, when asked on Newsmax if she would agree to serve as Trump's running mate, Kristi Noem responded that she would "in a heartbeat".
At a 2023 NRA forum in Indiana, Kristi Noem mentioned that her two-year-old granddaughter owned a shotgun, a rifle, and a "little pony named Sparkles".
In January 2024, Kristi Noem stated that an "invasion is coming over the southern border" of the United States, and the "enemy is the Mexican drug cartels", which are "perpetrating violence in each of our states, even here in South Dakota ... The cartels are using our reservations to facilitate the spread of drugs throughout the Midwest."
At the February 2024 CPAC conference, Kristi Noem tied with Vivek Ramaswamy as attendees' top choice for Trump's running mate, with each receiving 15% of the vote in a straw poll.
In March 2024, CNN reported that Kristi Noem was one of four people Donald Trump had shown increased interest in selecting as his running mate.
In March 2024, Donald Trump invited Kristi Noem to appear with him at a rally in Vandalia, Ohio.
In March 2024, Kristi Noem said there were "some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefiting from the cartels being there", but gave no evidence, and that there were people "who actually live in those situations, who call me and text me every day and say, 'Please, dear governor, please come help us in Pine Ridge. We are scared.'"
In March 2024, Noem shared a video promoting Smile Texas, a cosmetic dentist, stating they helped her after losing her front teeth in a biking accident. She has since been identified as an example of "Mar-a-Lago face."
In April 2024, Kristi Noem reversed her support for a federal ban on abortion, stating she believed abortion law should be determined at the state level and supported South Dakota's law banning abortion except to save the life of the pregnant patient.
In April 2024, excerpts from Noem's autobiography, 'No Going Back', were released, revealing that she shot her 14-month-old wirehaired pointer, Cricket, in a gravel pit after a pheasant hunt, deeming the dog untrainable and dangerous. Noem also killed her family's male goat. The incident received broad criticism.
In April 2024, insiders suggested that Kristi Noem's odds of being selected as Donald Trump's running mate had decreased due to her stance on abortion and revelations in her book. By June 5, it was reported she was no longer on the shortlist.
In August 2024, Noem and her sister were inducted into the Daughters of the American Revolution at the South Dakota State Fair.
On November 12, 2024, President-elect Trump selected Kristi Noem to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security in his second term.
In 2024, the nine tribes of South Dakota banned Kristi Noem from entering any tribal lands, representing almost 20% of South Dakota. Some media reported that one tribe, the Yankton Sioux, had not officially banned Noem.
Around January 2025, Kristi Noem apologized to the tribes for the misunderstanding between them, and the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe dissolved its order banning Noem from its land. The tribe expressed its support for her nomination as the Secretary of Homeland Security.
In January 2025, Kristi Noem was confirmed as Secretary of Homeland Security by a Senate vote of 59–34.
On January 17, 2025, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a confirmation hearing for Kristi Noem to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security.
After resigning as governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem was sworn in as Secretary of Homeland Security on January 25, 2025, by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
On the early morning of January 28, 2025, Kristi Noem led a raid with federal law enforcement agencies on illegal immigrants in New York City. A video of the raid was posted on X.
In February 2025, Kristi Noem was interviewed by CNN host Dana Bash, discussing the new administration's policies and the Department of Homeland Security. She addressed the use of Guantanamo Bay for migrants and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)'s access to sensitive data.
In April 2025, The Washington Post reported that Kristi Noem and acting Social Security Administration commissioner Leland Dudek had instructed the Social Security Administration to falsely list over 6,000 living immigrants in its database of dead people.
On the evening of April 20, 2025, Kristi Noem's purse was stolen from a D.C. burger restaurant. The purse contained her government access badge, apartment keys, a large sum of cash, passport, and blank checks, raising security concerns.
During a May 20, 2025, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the Department of Homeland Security's budget for fiscal year 2026, Kristi Noem incorrectly defined habeas corpus, prompting criticism.
In 2025, Kristi Noem became the 8th United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
In 2025, after the Potomac River mid-air collision, Kristi Noem deployed U.S. Coast Guard resources for search and rescue efforts as Secretary of Homeland Security.
During the May 20, 2025, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, they discussed the Department of Homeland Security's budget for fiscal year 2026.
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