A lot of people have tried to put labels on me, but right now I'm focused on being Kristi Noem and getting my message out to South Dakotans.

We need to simplify our tax code. We need to make sure that it's not too cumbersome for people to be able to comply with. And that they don't end up spending more money trying to file their taxes than they do actually paying in.

So, a lot of my supporters back home are members of the Tea Party.

A lot of people have tried to put labels on me, but right now I'm focused on being Kristi Noem and getting my message out to South Dakotans.

I'd rather have a real South Dakotan who has lived in this state and made her living here instead of someone with a fancy East Coast law degree any day.

I think everyday people on the street who have never been affiliated with the tea party movement are alarmed with the spending and the debt that we have.

I think the knowledge about how legislation really affects small businesses is extremely valuable. If you haven't run a small business, then you don't have this kind of knowledge about how a regulation passed or taxes increased affects your bottom line. If you recognize that every new regulation takes that much more time to comply with, requires that many more employees, then it really gives you that foundational basis to make those decisions.