North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was taken to a hospital in Milwaukee on Tuesday after getting hurt while playing pick-up basketball with his staff.
His participation in the Republican presidential debate on Fox News on Wednesday night is currently in doubt. Fox News was informed by Burgum’s campaign that it is “unclear if he will be able to stand at the debate.”
Burgum has been released from the hospital, the campaign reported.
“Burgum is a dark horse in the race, lacking the name recognition that other candidates enjoy. He qualified for the debate by earning 3% support in the Fox Iowa poll but has otherwise remained a relatively obscure figure in national politics,” Fox News reported.
“Wednesday night’s debate is an opportunity for Burgum to grab more attention from GOP primary voters. The billionaire software entrepreneur has poured more than $10 million into the race from his own bank account and spent $8 million in the last quarter alone. Up to $760,000 of that spend went to donors who accepted his offer to send a $20 gift card to any $1+ donor, a ploy that saw him reach the fundraising threshold for the first debate in record time this cycle,” Fox News added.
The first Republican presidential primary debate will only be broadcast on Fox News and will start at 9:00 p.m. ET.
The debate will be moderated by Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum and held at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and Vivek Ramaswamy are the eight candidates who have been officially confirmed to participate in the debate.
Before taking office as North Dakota’s 33rd governor, Burgum made a name for himself as a prosperous entrepreneur in the software sector.
Burgum, 67, guided Great Plains Software from a startup to a $1 billion software giant. Burgum remained on board as senior vice president after Microsoft eventually acquired his company, along with all of its North Dakota-based employees.
In 2016, a long shot and first-time candidate for governor of North Dakota easily defeated a candidate supported by the party establishment to win the party’s nomination. She later won the state’s gubernatorial general election in a landslide. Burgum won reelection to his position as governor by a landslide in 2020.
“Governor Burgum is looking forward to sharing his focus on the economy, energy, and national security at the August debate,” Burgum campaign spokesman Lance Trover said last month. “In less than 7 weeks, Governor Burgum has exceeded all the requirements for the debate. As a Governor and business leader Doug knows how to fix the economy, unleash American energy, and win the Cold War with China.”
Fox News reported:
Fox News Channel announced a plethora of special live programming surrounding its coverage of the first Republican presidential primary debate on August 23.
A special 30-minute edition of “Jesse Watters Primetime” will air at 8 p.m. ET, followed by “Countdown to the Debate” anchored by Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer. Commentators including Harold Ford Jr., Brit Hume, Trey Gowdy, Karl Rove and Kellyanne Conway will provide analysis throughout the special program.
Following the two-hour debate, “Hannity” will air at 11 p.m. ET to offer post-debate analysis from host Sean Hannity and guests live from Milwaukee. At 12 p.m. ET, “FOX News @ Night with Trace Gallagher” will continue the network’s coverage of the critical first GOP debate.
