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DES MOINES, Iowa — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum made the rounds at the iconic Iowa State Fair to tout his small-town roots and promise a “180-degree” turn from President Biden’s policies, which he says hurt Americans of every political stripe.
Mr. Burgum was among the lesser-known Republican presidential contenders who made their way to the fair to introduce themselves to voters and try to steal a bit of the spotlight from former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other high-profile contenders.
Mr. Burgum, a billionaire who grew up in a small North Dakota town and made his fortune by investing in the technology industry, said the first thing he would do as president is take a more pro-America stance on energy.
“The Biden administration, I say their energy policy was designed by China because if you want to go all-electric vehicles, it is basically a war on liquid fuels,” Mr. Burgum said during a “Fair-Side Chat” with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. “It is a war on liquid fuels. It is a war on America.
“We have a chance not only to be energy independent, but we can be energy dominate,” he said. “We can be an energy superpower.”
Mr. Burgum and other lesser-known contenders have flipped pork chops, gobbled down corn dogs and strolled past the Iowa State Fair’s famous butter cow.
They addressed voters from the Des Moines Register soapbox and sat down for a public chat with Ms. Reynolds, the state’s popular Republican governor.
They fielded questions from voters about the U.S.-Mexico border, the national debt and the Russia-Ukraine war, and some have been a little ingratiating by saying Iowans’ political IQs are off the charts.
Onlookers sometimes struggle to put names with faces and often have fallen back on a familiar question: “Who’s that?”
The lack of familiarity is another stumbling block for candidates working to reach the Republican National Committee’s polling and donation thresholds to get onto the stage for the first presidential debate on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee.
The candidates have been creative. Mr. Burgum doled out $20 gift cards in exchange for donations to his campaign.
Others have hired canvassers, including some self-identified Democrats, from out of state to help sign up supporters.
Among the Republican hopefuls pleading for donations was Larry Elder, a Black conservative commentator who ran for California governor last year.
Mr. Elder said the “epidemic of fatherlessness” is the nation’s most serious problem. He said children raised without a father are far more likely to be poor, drop out of school and end up in jail.
“It is an outrage our society is not talking more about this,” he said. “The other side doesn’t talk about it because they caused it. Our side doesn’t talk about it for fear of being accused of making a cultural determination and a fear of being accused of being a racist.”
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez painted himself as a forward-looking, “compassionate” conservative. The 44-year-old son of Cuban refugees said he has the political makeup that would make him “impossible for the Democrats” to defeat in a general election.
“If we could win Hispanics, if we could win urban voters, which I’ve done already, and young voters, it is game over,” Mr. Suarez said. “There isn’t a place in the United States for Democrats to win. I have already done that. I have proven I have a track record of connecting with those voters.”
Mr. Suarez said his “freedom agenda” of lowering taxes, addressing homelessness and increasing police funding has led to double-digit economic growth and a reduction in violent crime and has helped Miami develop into a hub for technology and innovation.
“You guys remember ‘Miami Vice’?” Mr. Suarez said of the popular 1980s television show. “Now it is Miami nice.”
Businessman Perry Johnson focused on the soaring national debt. He vowed to cut 2 cents for every dollar of discretionary spending, which Congress uses to fund defense and domestic programs.
“Right now, I believe we are going broke. In fact, let’s face maybe we are broke,” Mr. Johnson said. “I spent my entire life bringing quality and efficiencies to companies, and now I want to bring it to the federal government.”
Mr. Johnson, the son of a World War II pilot and Army nurse, promised to shut down the Department of Education and redistribute its funding to the states.
“I want to bring quality and efficiency to the federal government,” he said. “In fact, I am probably the worst guy in the world for Washington, and I know they hate me.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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