Kristi Noem running Governor's Office without chief of staff

Governor hasn't filled position or named interim since Mark Miller left post last week

For the first time in at least the last three of South Dakota’s gubernatorial administrations, the governor’s office does not have an acting chief of staff.

Gov. Kristi Noem is again on the hunt for a new staffer to lead her cabinet operations — the fifth time since first taking office in 2019. But unlike prior gaps between chiefs of staff, the Republican governor has not filled the post with an interim staff member since former Chief of Staff Mark Miller departed the office earlier this month.

“I am. I always have been,” Noem said Wednesday when asked by a reporter of The Dakota Scout who is leading her office in Miller’s absence.

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