Kristi Noem is an American politician who has served as the 8th United States Secretary of Homeland Security since 2025. A Republican, she was the 33rd governor of South Dakota from 2019 to 2025. Prior to her governorship, she represented South Dakota's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019. Noem's political career began in the South Dakota House of Representatives, where she served from 2007 to 2011, establishing her foundation in state-level politics before ascending to national prominence.
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.
In 1992, Kristi Noem married Bryon Noem in Watertown, South Dakota.
On April 21, 1994, Kristi Noem's daughter, Kassidy, was born.
In 1994, Kristi Noem's father was killed in a farm machinery accident.
In 2006, Kristi Noem was elected as a Republican to the South Dakota House of Representatives, representing the 6th district.
In 2007, Kristi Noem began her political career in the South Dakota House of Representatives, serving until 2011.
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.
In 2009, Kristi Noem served as the vice chair of the Agriculture Land Assessment Advisory Task Force.
In 2009, fireworks displays were halted at Mount Rushmore by the National Park Service because of fire risks and other reasons.
In August 2010, while running for Congress, Kristi Noem indicated that she would vote to ban embryonic stem-cell research.
In 2010, Kristi Noem supported the Keystone XL Pipeline.
In 2010, Kristi Noem was elected to South Dakota's at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 2010, Kristi Noem's service in the South Dakota House of Representatives concluded.
On March 8, 2011, Kristi Noem announced the formation of a leadership political action committee called KRISTI PAC.
In March 2011, Kristi Noem criticized President Barack Obama's approach to the NATO-led military intervention in Libya, requesting more clarity on the U.S.'s role.
In March 2011, Kristi Noem was selected as the liaison to the House Republican leadership, and was named one of the 12 regional directors for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) for the 2012 election campaign.
In 2011, Kristi Noem began representing South Dakota's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House, a position she held until 2019.
In 2011, Kristi Noem indicated she would vote to raise the federal debt ceiling if tied to budget reforms and voted for The Budget Control Act of 2011.
In 2011, Kristi Noem sponsored a measure to block Environmental Protection Agency funding for stricter air pollution standards.
In 2011, when Kristi Noem moved to Washington to take her congressional office, her family continued to live on a ranch near Castlewood, South Dakota.
In 2012, Kristi Noem obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from South Dakota State University while serving as a U.S. Representative.
Kristi Noem was one of the 12 regional directors for the National Republican Congressional Committee during the 2012 election campaign.
In 2013, Kristi Noem began serving on the House Armed Services Committee.
In 2014, Kristi Noem worked on the National Defense Authorization Act as a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
In 2015, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed a Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) into law, that resembles the 2021 bill signed into law by Kristi Noem.
In 2015, Kristi Noem co-sponsored a bill to amend the 14th Amendment to define human life as beginning at fertilization, effectively banning abortion from that moment.
In 2015, Kristi Noem served on the House Armed Services Committee.
In 2015, Kristi Noem stated her disagreement with Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional.
In November 2016, Kristi Noem announced that she would run for governor of South Dakota in 2018.
In 2017, Kristi Noem supported President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769, which temporarily suspended the U.S. refugee program and banned travel from several Muslim-majority countries.
In 2017, Kristi Noem was on the conference committee that negotiated the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
As of 2018, Kristi Noem's family attended a Foursquare Church in Watertown, South Dakota.
In 2018, Kristi Noem pitched her online sales tax bill to the House Freedom Caucus.
In 2018, Kristi Noem was elected governor of South Dakota.
On January 5, 2019, Kristi Noem was sworn in as the 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, particularly the agricultural sector.
In May 2019, Kristi Noem proposed building a fence around the governor's mansion, with an estimated cost of $400,000, but the proposal was later retracted.
On October 1, 2019, Josh Shields was appointed as Kristi Noem's chief of staff.
On November 18, 2019, Kristi Noem released a meth awareness campaign named "Meth. We're on It". The campaign faced widespread mockery and criticism due to the expenditure of $449,000 of public funds and the hiring of an out-of-state advertising agency.
In 2019, Kristi Noem became the 33rd Governor of South Dakota, serving until 2025.
In 2019, Kristi Noem concluded her service in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 2019, Kristi Noem consented to South Dakota's participation in the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program.
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 with the 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 had passed the South Dakota House and Senate to legalize hemp cultivation, citing concerns about undermining drug law enforcement.
On January 1, 2020, Josh Shield's term as Kristi Noem's chief of staff ended.
On March 2, 2020, Tony Venhuizen was appointed as Kristi Noem's chief of staff.
On March 13, 2020, Noem ordered the closure of K-12 schools in South Dakota in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 6, 2020, Noem issued an executive order mandating that people "shall" follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She also ordered everyone over the age of 65 in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties to stay home for three weeks.
On April 9, 2020, the Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that its inspectors would be allowed to wear masks at meatpacking plants if the owners granted them permission. Inspectors were initially expected to provide their own masks.
On April 13, 2020, Noem stated on Fox News regarding the COVID-19 outbreak at the Smithfield pork plant that "We believe that 99 percent of what's going on today wasn't happening inside the facility".
Around April 2020, Kassidy Peters received an Agreed Disposition concerning her real estate appraisal license.
On July 3, 2020, Noem did not mandate social distancing or the wearing of face masks at an event held at Mount Rushmore, which was attended by President Trump. She publicly doubted scientific recommendations on mask usage and cited analysis from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons to defend her views.
Around July 20, 2020, Kassidy Peters received a letter and/or Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law after she failed to meet the requirements of the Agreed Disposition related to her real estate appraisal license.
In August 2020, Noem gave a speech at the Republican National Convention. This heightened her profile on the national stage, and was later called a "defining moment in her political career".
On October 22, 2020, COVID-19 hospitalizations in South Dakota reached a record high of 355, including 75 in Intensive Care Units, following the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Hospital systems rescheduled elective procedures, and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken urged people to "Wear a dang mask".
In November 2020, during a surge of COVID-19 cases, Noem utilized pandemic relief funds to promote tourism in South Dakota, while also declining to implement face mask mandates and questioning the efficacy of mask-wearing.
On December 8, 2020, Kristi Noem tacitly acknowledged the outcome of the 2020 presidential election by referring to a "Biden administration" during her annual state budget address.
As of December 2020, Noem was one of the few governors who had not maintained statewide stay-at-home orders or face-mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From 2020 to 2021, the following events took place.
In 2020, Kristi Noem brought legislation to repeal sections of the previous anti-riot bill and clarify the definition of "incitement to riot" after a federal court struck down parts of the law as unconstitutional.
In 2020, Kristi Noem opposed two ballot measures aiming to legalize cannabis for medical and recreational use in South Dakota. Following the passage of both measures, she and two police officers initiated a lawsuit to challenge the recreational use measure, Amendment A.
In 2020, Kristi Noem's daughter, Kassidy Peters, was denied a real estate appraisal license, which prompted Noem to summon Sherry Bren, the director of South Dakota's Appraiser Certification Program, to her office, along with Peters, Noem's Chief of Staff Tony Venhuizen, Department of Labor Attorney Amber Mulder, and Labor Secretary Marcia Hultman.
In 2020, sixteen weeks after Trump's executive order for enhanced unemployment benefits, Noem opted out of the program, making South Dakota the only state to refuse the assistance despite a jobless rate of 7.2% in June.
In early 2020, South Dakota experienced one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S., impacting the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, with four deaths and nearly 1,300 workers and their families testing positive.
After the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, Kristi Noem spoke out against the violence, stating that violence is not part of peaceful protest.
On February 8, 2021, circuit court judge Christina Klinger struck down the amendment to legalize recreational marijuana as unconstitutional.
On March 8, 2021, Kristi Noem announced on Twitter that she would sign H.B. 1217, the Women's Fairness in Sports Bill, into law, which bans transgender athletes from women's sports teams. This announcement generated concerns about potential economic repercussions for the state.
On April 23, 2021, Tony Venhuizen's term as Kristi Noem's chief of staff ended.
On July 1, 2021, medical marijuana became legal in South Dakota despite Kristi Noem's efforts to delay its implementation.
In July 2021, 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. Later that month, she ended the prison's mask mandate after meeting with prison employees.
In August 2021, Noem announced the hiring of the CGL Group for $166,410 to review the Department of Corrections operations. Additionally, the director of the prison work program was fired, and two other DOC employees were relieved of their duties.
In September 2021, conservative media outlet American Greatness reported that Kristi Noem was having an extramarital affair with political operative Corey Lewandowski. Noem denied the report, 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 to obtain documents about the deployment to Texas's border with Mexico and the related donation by Willis and Reba Johnson.
In October 2021, following the publication of an Associated Press story, the State Senate's Government Operations and Audit Committee investigated the appraisal program. The Committee invited Marcia Hultman and Sherry Bren to discuss the program, leading to Bren's testimony later that year.
On November 1, 2021, the Government Accountability Board created an agenda to discuss the issues surrounding Noem related to complaints brought by Ravnsborg.
In November 2021, Kristi Noem announced she was running for re-election as governor.
In November 2021, it was reported that Kristi Noem spent $68,000 of taxpayer money on imported rugs from India, chandeliers, and a sauna for the governor's mansion.
On November 19, 2021, Kristi Noem appointed Mark Miller as her fifth chief of staff, succeeding Aaron Scheibe.
On December 14, 2021, Sherry Bren testified before the Government Operations and Audit Committee regarding Kassidy Peters' appraisal program situation. She stated that Peters received an Agreed Disposition around March/April 2020 and a letter and/or Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law around July 20, 2020, for failing to meet the requirements of the Agreed Disposition.
On December 15, 2021, the Government Accountability Board referred one of two complaints to Noem for a response while sending 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 based on 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 deny products or services based on religious beliefs related to sexual orientation or gender identity. This legislation, S.B. 124, faced criticism for potentially enabling discrimination.
In 2021, Noem sued U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to reinstate fireworks at Mount Rushmore for Independence Day. She hired a private Washington D.C. law firm, Consovoy McCarthy, with South Dakota state taxpayer money for the suit.
On January 21, 2022, the "prayer bill", HB 1015, which Kristi Noem sought to have put back in school, was defeated in the House Education Committee by a vote of 9–6. It was also admitted that no schools were consulted about the proposal.
On February 3, 2022, the Government Accountability Board referred the second complaint to Noem for a response, giving 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.
On February 24, 2022, Republican State Representative John Mills introduced House Resolution 7004 against Noem, addressing her "unacceptable actions in matters related to the appraiser certification program".
On March 14, 2022, Stephany Bawek, the 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.
April 15, 2022, marked the deadline for Noem to respond to two pending complaints referred to her by the Government Accountability Board.
In 2022, Kristi Noem expressed her denial of the scientific consensus on climate change, stating that the science on the matter is varied and unproven to her.
In 2022, Kristi Noem issued an order banning TikTok from state-owned devices, citing concerns about the Chinese Communist Party's use of gathered information.
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's proposal to locate a government-paid RV park in Custer State Park faced significant opposition and was effectively killed by the House Agricultural and Natural Resources committee.
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, Kristi Noem stated on Newsmax that she would "in a heartbeat" agree to serve as Donald Trump's running mate.
In September 2023, the New York Post and the Daily Mail published similar reports about Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, which Noem's spokesman denied.
At a 2023 NRA forum in Indiana, Kristi Noem stated that her two-year-old granddaughter possessed a shotgun, a rifle, and a "little pony named Sparkles".
In January 2024, Noem stated that an "invasion is coming over the southern border" of the United States, and that the "enemy is the Mexican drug cartels", who are "perpetrating violence in each of our states, even here in South Dakota" and "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 Donald Trump's running mate, 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 shared a video identifying herself as the South Dakota governor and promoting Smile Texas, a cosmetic dentist business that she credited with helping her after losing her front teeth in a biking accident.
In March 2024, Noem claimed that "some tribal leaders" were "personally benefiting from the cartels being there" without providing evidence, adding that people "who actually live in those situations" had contacted her expressing fear and requesting help in Pine Ridge, citing high unemployment and a lack of parental support.
In April 2024, Kristi Noem announced she had reversed her support for a federal ban on abortion.
In April 2024, it was reported that Kristi Noem's odds of being selected as Donald Trump's running mate had decreased due to her stance on abortion and the revelation in her book "No Going Back" about shooting her dog and a goat.
In April 2024, pre-release excerpts from Kristi Noem's second autobiography, "No Going Back", sparked widespread criticism. The excerpt recounted an incident where Noem shot her 14-month-old wirehaired pointer, Cricket, and her family's male goat, because of Cricket's poor hunting performance and the goat's unpleasant nature. This led to accusations of animal cruelty and questions about her judgment. There were questions raised about whether this violated South Dakota law.
In August 2024, Kristi 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, nine tribes of South Dakota banned Noem from entering their tribal lands, which constitute almost 20% of the state. However, reports indicated that one tribe, the Yankton Sioux, did not officially impose the ban.
Around January 2025, Noem apologized to the tribes, leading the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe to dissolve its order banning Noem from its land. The tribe expressed support for Noem's nomination 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.
In the early morning of January 28, 2025, Kristi Noem, as Secretary of Homeland Security, joined federal law enforcement agencies to lead a raid on illegal immigrants in New York City.
In February 2025, CNN host Dana Bash interviewed Kristi Noem about the new administration's policies and the Department of Homeland Security, including the use of Guantanamo Bay for migrant detention and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)'s access to sensitive data.
In 2025, Kristi Noem began serving as the 8th United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
In 2025, in her memoir, Noem wrote about envisioning herself succeeding Joe Biden as president. She mentioned that her first action would be to remove Joe Biden's dog, Commander, from the White House grounds, implying a similar fate to her own dog, Cricket. This statement followed Commander's removal from the White House due to multiple biting incidents.
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