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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is inviting Minnesota bar owners to relocate to her state after a COVID-19 restrictions crackdown.

“Come to South Dakota! We respect your rights. We won’t shut you down,” the Republican governor wrote Monday on Twitter.

Noem, 49, is widely seen as a Republican rising star and is an outspoken advocate against lockdowns.

Noem, who also posted this week a photo of herself using a flamethrower, invited bar owners to move after neighboring Minnesota’s Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison sued bars that defied Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s pandemic restrictions on indoor dining.

South Dakota is the 46th-most populous state. Although a Republican stronghold that’s not known as a party destination, its voters on Nov. 3 legalized recreational marijuana, which remains banned by state law in Minnesota.

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