Kristi Noem is the 33rd governor of the state of South Dakota. She is the first female governor of that state, but she has faced criticisms for her defiance of pandemic measures in her state. Noem is in her first term as governor, but there are those speculating she will throw her hat in the presidential race of 2024. Noem has also served her state as a Congressional representative as well as the state’s legislature.
Celebrated Name: | Kristi Noem |
Real Name/Full Name: | Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem |
Gender: | Female |
Age: | 50 |
Birthdate: | November 30, 1971 |
Birthplace: | Watertown, SD |
Nationality: | American |
Height: | 5 ft. 7 in. |
Weight: | 128 lb. |
Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
Marital Status: | Married |
Husband/Spouse | Bryon Noem |
Children/Kids: | Two Daughters: Kassidy and Kennedy; One Son: Booker |
Dating/Boyfriend Name: | N/A |
Is Kristi Noem Gay? | No |
Highest Political Office: | Governor of South Dakota |
Profession: | Rancher and Politician |
Colleges Attended: | Northern State University (South Dakota), Mount Marty College (Watertown Campus), South Dakota State University |
Degrees: | Bachelor of Arts, Political Science |
Salary: | $116,4000 |
Net Worth in 2022: | $4 million |
Biography: Early Life and Family
Kristi Noem was born Kristi Arnold in Watertown, South Dakota on November 30, 1971. Her parents are Ron and Corinne Arnold. Kristi was raised on her parents’ ranch in Hamlin County, South Dakota. At present, Arnold owns her parents’ ranch. One of her platforms as she ran for governor had to do with the struggle her family experienced due to what is nicknamed “the death tax.” When Noem’s father died accidentally, the Arnold family struggled to keep the farm due to high taxes imposed on the estate. This is one life experience which prompted Noem to run for office, and when President Donald Trump worked to change the way estate taxes work, Noem was an outspoken supporter.
Noem graduated from Hamlin High School in 1990. She competed in a local pageant, the South Dakota Snow Queen. She won the title the same year she graduated high school, and she says that her time as the “Snow Queen” assisted her in public speaking engagements during her campaign.
Noem would immediately enroll in Northern State University after high school. She attended this college from 1990 to 1994, the year her father passed away.
Noem would take classes at the Watertown campus of Mount Marty College as well as South Dakota State University after the passing of her father. Noem and her siblings all moved closer to home shortly after her father’s accidental death. Noem has said that all this work was necessary to keep the ranch afloat. She has also said that it was very important to her and her family that they be able to keep her family’s property.
Personal Life
Kristi Arnold married Bryon Noem in 1992 when she was only twenty years old. Together, the couple has three children: Kassidy, Kennedy, and Booker.
Kristi came back home, postponing her studies, in order to help her family save the farm. Her father died in a farm machinery accident, and each of the Arnold siblings returned to their parents’ ranch in order to keep the business going.
Kristi would attend classes near Watertown and eventually take online classes in order to complete her education. In fact, Noem was already serving her state as a Congresswoman when she completed her studies. She graduated from South Dakota State University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
Kristi’s family still owns and operates a ranch in South Dakota. Her husband, Bryon, attended Northern State University at the same time as Kristi. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Finance.
Bryon chiefly works on the family farm, but he has also coached basketball and worked as an insurance agent. He originally worked at the Bryant State Bank in this position, but he would eventually buy out the insurance portion of the business from Bryant State Bank, and he renamed it Noem Insurance. Today, Bryon operates a crop insurance agency near the couple’s home in Castlewood, South Dakota.
Kristi lives in the state capital city during the week, and on weekends, she returns home to assist her husband on the family farm. Their son is still living at home, although her daughters are both out of high school.
Kassidy Noem is married to her husband Kyle Peters. Kyle is a development consultant in Sioux Falls, and Kassidy is in real estate.
Kassidy and Peter have one daughter, Addie, born in June 2021.
Kennedy Noem attended Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and she currently works as her mother’s director of finance. Kennedy seems to have a penchant for politics much like her mother. Kennedy has interned for current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). She has also served as a policy analyst for her mother’s campaign.
Kennedy has recently revealed that she will be leaving her position in her mother’s gubernatorial office in order to earn a Master’s degree. She plans to seek this degree in business administration, and she will do so at her alma mater, Belmont University.
Age, Height, and Weight
Kristi Noem is 50 years old. She is said to be 5′ 7″ and 128 pounds.
Net Worth
Governor Kristi Noem has worked in politics since 2006 and has an estimated net worth of $4 million. In order to calculate her net worth, one must also consider not only any money and pensions she received through her political career but also her property. Little information exists stating the exact acreage and value of her property, but one can infer that a good bit of her wealth is likely her property. Also, Noem’s husband owns his own business, which also figures into any calculation.
Career Outside of Politics
Other than her time in politics, Noem has worked chiefly as a rancher. She has been a part of her family’s business since birth, but only after her father’s death did she have a monetary stake in the family’s ranch.
Noem and her husband have property in her hometown of Castlewood, South Dakota. Noem splits her time between official duties and weekends at home on the family ranch. Her husband continues to work at his insurance agency as well as maintain the ranch.
Career in Politics
In 2006, Noem decided to throw her hat in the political ring by running for a seat in the South Dakota House of Representatives. She ran in the 6th district of the state; this area contains Clark, Hamlin, Beadle, Codington, and Kingsbury counties – all near Noem’s hometown. That year she won 39 percent of the vote and the seat. She ran again in 2008. She was re-elected that year with 41 percent of the vote. All total, Noem served in the state legislature in South Dakota for four years or two terms.
While she served in the South Dakota state legislature, Kristi Noem was an assistant majority leader. She was also on two committees: the House State Affairs Committee and the House Taxation Committee.
Noem also sponsored a bill that would lower the age of compulsory education from 18 to 16 in South Dakota. She argued that the higher compulsory attendance age did not have a positive effect on the state’s graduation rate.
In 2010, Noem set her sights on a seat in Congress. She ran for the at-large seat South Dakota holds in the United States House of Representatives. She won her primary over then-South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson and State Representative Blake Curd. Later, these same primary opponents would throw their support behind Kristi Noem when she ran in the general election.
Noem would go on to defeat the incumbent, a Democratic Congresswoman named Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. Although Sandlin had not always fallen in line with her Democratic colleagues in the House, Noem received 48 percent of the final vote in the general election.
Noem ran for a second term in 2012. She handily defeated her Democratic opponent, Matthew Varilek with 57 percent of the vote.
In 2014 and 2016, Noem won re-election over her Democratic opponents. She was the fourth woman to represent South Dakota in Congress. While in Congress, Kristi Noem worked alongside heavyweights such as Tim Scott as one of the “freshman” Congresspeople who were saddled with pushing then Speaker of the House John Boehner to make cuts to federal spending as well as meet other expectations of the incoming Congress members.
Noem was named to the National Republican Congressional Committee as well. She found a great deal of support from the Tea Party, which called for political reform of the “establishment” in Washington.
It was during her time in Congress that she finally earned her political science degree (2012).
In 2016, Noem announced that she would run for the office of governor of South Dakota. She defeated the South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley in a Republican primary. Her opponent in the general election was Billie Sutton. She won that election with 51 percent of the vote. She has announced that she will seek re-election in 2022, when her first term as governor is up.