President-elect Donald Trump has chosen South Carolina Governor Kristi Noem to serve as the next Secretary of Homeland Security, according to multiple reports.
Noem is currently serving her second four-year term as governor, after becoming the first woman to be elected to the seat in 2018. She previously served as a state representative and was elected to South Carolina’s sole House seat.
During her time as governor, Noem refused to implement a statewide mask mandate in 2020, despite her state having one of the country’s highest COVID-19 mortality rates per capita at the time.
Noem received national backlash in April when it was revealed that she killed an “untrainable” dog that she “hated.” At the time, she was a top contender for Trump’s running mate, but the chance fell through after The Guardian published unsavory bits of her upcoming memoir, which led to criticism from the DNC and PETA.
In 2021, Noem issued two executive orders to ban transgender girls and women from participating in sports teams that match their gender identity. The orders applied to k-12 teams, as well as state colleges and universities.
In 2022, she passed similar anti-trans legislation in the form of Senate Bill 46. The bill bans trans youth and college-aged students from participating in sports that match their gender identity.
Noem also passed House Bill 1080 in 2023, which banned gender affirming care for trans youth. The ban outlawed surgical and non-surgical treatment in a move that the HRC called “dangerous and discriminatory.”
She has also banned “divisive” training and orientation material from the state’s public universities and signed an executive order to restrict how K-12 schools teach race. Noem has openly disagreed with marriage equality and has defended her state’s near total abortion ban.
As the Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Noem will now be in the position to oversee border control, disaster response, and the U.S. Secret Service. With a Trump loyalist in the office, the president-elect is expected to issue a massive crackdown on immigration.
