South Dakota’s Republican Gov. Kristi Noem was positioning herself as a tough challenger for 2024.
Noem emerged from last month’s Conservative Political Action Conference as the third choice – admittedly a distant third, but third nonetheless – among attendees as the favorite for the GOP nomination in the next election.
But last week Noem backtracked from a commitment to defend women’s sports from the encroachment of transgender women, and that has some questioning her willingness to defend traditional values.
A state bill, which overwhelmingly passed the South Dakota Legislature, would have banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
Noem vetoed it on “style and form,” noting in a statement that “this bill’s vague and overly broad language could have significant unintended consequences.”
The Blaze reported that Noem was pressured to reject the bill by the state Chamber of Commerce and the leaders of South Dakota’s state university system.
Now, some conservatives are rethinking Noem’s viability as a champion of their beliefs.
Kristen Waggoner, general counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents three Connecticut girls in a lawsuit challenging that state’s policy of allowing transgender women into women’s sports, said in a statement that Noem “had an opportunity to protect women and girls … instead she pandered to the demands of special interests.”
“We are shocked that a governor who claims to be a firebrand conservative with a rising national profile would cave to ‘woke’ corporate ideology.”
Waggoner added that Noem was being disingenuous by asserting that “her hands were tied by NCAA policy,” because the NCAA has no policy that “requires schools to allow males to compete on women’s teams.”
Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, added in a statement, “By standing with Joe Biden and the radical left against protecting women’s sports, Noem has irreparably damaged her standing with both her own constituents as well as Americans nationally who have been looking to her for bold leadership.”
Conservative podcaster Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire noted, “Republicans who don’t stand up to the Left’s gender madness are useless. This is a hardline issue. No capitulating. No compromise. Our side is 100 percent right. The other side is 100 percent wrong. They should get no concession and no consideration.”
Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, pointed out in an op-ed at CNSNews.com that bills such as the one Noem vetoed “have caught fire – fanning out across almost 30 states and becoming law in two.
“In a state that Donald Trump won by 26 points, the idea of keeping biological boys off the girls’ teams isn’t radical – it’s practical,” Perkins wrote. “South Dakota’s daughters deserve a fighter and a leader. So far, in Noem, they have neither.”
Support journalism by clicking here to our gofundme or sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here.
If you watch her video on this, she said she still supports the bill, but did not want to sign it because there were loop holes that trial lawyers could use to nullify the intent of the bill. This woman is amazing, let’s not cut her down in any way. Harsh criticism especially unwarranted is not needed in these times.
So to close the loopholes that “could be” used to nullify the bill she just went and nullified it herself? That makes sense to you?