WATCH: Gov. Doug Burgum on JD Vance, independents and whether he'd join a Trump administration

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum was one of Donald Trump's challengers in the Republican primaries. He was also on the short list of vice presidential picks before Trump settled on JD Vance as his running mate.

Burgum recalled to PBS News how Trump let him know about that decision.

"President Trump made a great choice. So when he called and the first words were, 'Hello mister secretary,' I think we had the news that the decision that he'd made, but we've been pleased to be part of this," Burgum said.

PBS News Co-Anchor Geoff Bennett asked Burgum to which cabinet post he felt he could add the greatest value.

"I would say that having spent most of my career in technology, I think we're all underestimating the impact of AI that it's going to have on government and the needs that we have," Burgum said. "A lot of the tail end of the baby boomers are retiring and the way we're set up ... you can't even fill the jobs when they come open for government jobs, so there's going to have to be a productivity increase and governments at least."

When asked about Trump's path to victory in the electoral college, Burgum pointed to the convention's message of unity.

"If every Republican in America votes for President Trump, we might still lose an election because there aren't enough Republicans. This race will be decided by independents. So as a party, we have to be in a position to attract those voters," Burgum said. "When President Trump had this near-death experience on Saturday night, one of the first things he said was, 'Hey, I'm ripping up my speech and I'm going to deliver a different speech on Thursday night that's more about unity.' I think that gives a lot of hope to the group that you're talking about."

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