South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) quietly deleted two state-affiliated social media accounts over the weekend without saying why she did it, according to Fox News.
Both the @govkristinoem X account and the Gov. Noem Facebook account are non-operational as of Sunday, while her personal X and Facebook accounts are still up and running, however.
The two deleted accounts had more than 700,000 followers between them.
Some officials have gotten into trouble by posting official information or campaign-related info on their personal social media accounts, so it's not a wise move to do so.
Noem did create a new account on X for official posts, according to a spokesperson.
"For official updates from the Governor’s Office, including press releases, follow @GovNoemOffice on X," Ian Fury told the outlet last week.
The account, created in early July, began posting press releases on July 3.
The changeover could be an attempt to get rid of social media statements surrounding Noem's account in a memoir that she killed one of her hunting dogs when it showed aggression toward people.
Some were outraged by her account of shooting the dog when it was 14 months old. She seemed to include the story as a way of showing she can do what needs to be done, even when it's hard.
By clearing out the old stories, she not only gets to move away from the unpopular narrative, but she avoids many of them coming back to be quoted again and again as time goes on.
Noem was considered to be a top contender for the Republican VP position before her memoir made the news, but she faded from the spotlight somewhat because of the controversy.
Another plausible reason for deleting the old accounts would be in preparation to become a vice-presidential candidate, but that seems unlikely now.
Noem has been a popular governor and was easily re-elected in 2024. She would not be eligible to run for governor again because of term limits in South Dakota.
The people of South Dakota liked her stance on COVID-19 shutdowns and vaccinations--she was against them both and kept South Dakota largely open during the pandemic after the initial shutdown period.
