Just a few days ago, I was formally inaugurated as Governor at the South Dakota State Capitol. Hundreds of South Dakotans came to celebrate with me and my family, and I could not be more grateful for their support. That day, I delivered an inaugural address – I shared that I will be available to discuss the challenges that South Dakotans face and how we can turn them into opportunities.

I believe that the distinction between challenges and opportunities is largely one of perspective. A challenge is many times an opportunity not yet recognized or realized. Whenever I have a task in front of me, I try not to look at it as an obstacle to be overcome. Rather, if I look at it as an opportunity to achieve something, the task at hand becomes a lot easier.

I want that same mindset to be the foundation of everything that we do during my administration.

Five years ago, Governor Kristi Noem declared South Dakota “Open for Business.” That bold stand was put to the ultimate test during COVID. We overcame that challenge and turned it into South Dakota’s greatest opportunity. Now, I want to apply that same approach to all of our work.

I want to keep South Dakota “Open for Business.” But more than that, I want our state to be “Open for Opportunity.”

That means opportunity for families to do what is best for their kids; opportunity for our communities to respond to whatever unique situations they’re facing; opportunity for kids graduating high school to go into whatever college or career field is right for them; opportunity for farmers and ranchers to be able to keep earning a strong living so that they can pass that farm or ranch down to their kids; opportunity for every hard working South Dakotan to seek out better and higher paying jobs; opportunity for our businesses to keep growing at a tremendous rate.

When we protect opportunity in South Dakota, we pave the way for better jobs for my children and grandchildren – and yours. We create new educational opportunities that don’t pit this group against that group, but instead allow every child to succeed. We don’t build new prisons just to lock more people up; instead, we use those facilities as an opportunity to get people back on their feet and contributing to our society.

Opportunity is not limited by my vision, or even the vision of any individual in our state. It is as broad as the South Dakota prairie and as high as Black Elk Peak. If we all link arms and pledge to chase down opportunities together, our state will be in pretty good shape.