South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign town hall, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

With President-elect Donald Trump filling his cabinet with loyalists, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) getting the nod for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t raise many eyebrows. Noem’s allegiance to Trump goes back to the early days of his first campaign, and for many of her constituents, her loyalty to him came at their expense. 

“Kristi is a deeply divisive individual who is being rewarded for being a hateful, selfish governor who doesn’t care about South Dakota or anyone who lives here,” says Katie Rose of Sioux Falls. Rose is a single mother who thinks politicians like Trump and Noem are setting a bad example for her child’s generation. “She has been absolutely blinded by her cultish adoration of Trump and has never made the safety and success of her constituents a priority — especially Native American tribes.”

Noem, who has been in South Dakota politics since 2006, is no stranger to controversy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem imposed minimal public health initiatives and discouraged mask-wearing and social distancing, which caused the health care system in South Dakota to nearly collapse. The 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which Noem encouraged to occur, is widely seen as one of the largest super-spreader events of the pandemic. 

She also repeatedly made bizarre endorsements from her official accounts and made light of transgender youth depression in her state.

Throughout her time as governor, Noem has repeatedly clashed with the Native American tribes in South Dakota. Her administration initiated multiple lawsuits against the tribes regarding a variety of disputes, including everything from alleged collusion with drug cartels to tribal sovereignty. These clashes made global headlines earlier this year after the tribes unanimously voted to banish her from their lands. Noem’s memoir, “No Going Back,” received widespread ridicule after much of the book was found to be false and included a shocking passage about Noem shooting and killing one of her family’s dogs. 

Elizabeth Shaw, an immigration attorney who lived in South Dakota for much of her life, moved to Massachusetts as a result of the vitriolic environment Noem created in the state. Shaw has grave concerns about what Noem’s leadership at DHS might look like.

“She has no law degree and no experience as a border state leader. Her leadership style is crass and offensive — how can we trust our border’s administration with someone who has shown that they lack empathy?” Shaw told Heartland Signal. “We knew Trump’s DHS pick was going to be harmful, but Noem is going to create serious problems and a web of legal mess.”

While Noem still has to be formally nominated and approved by the Senate, her checkered history is likely to generate significant blowback from Democrats. Regardless of how Noem intends to lead the department, the nomination is likely to be seen as the culmination of decades of work for Noem, who has eagerly been positioning herself for the national political scene. With Republicans solidly in control of the upper chamber, her ascent to Trump’s cabinet is all but certain.