[Whitfield:] Republican women only make up 10 percent of Congress and while a record number of women are running for election this year, most are doing so on the Democratic ticket. So what's it going to take to get more red state women on Capitol Hill? Here's CNN's Kyung Lah.
[Kyung Lah, Cnn Senior National Correspondent:] 5:30 a.m., a single digit dawn in South Dakota. Congresswoman Kristi Noem's daily ritual. The path to make history. Running to be the first woman governor of South Dakota. [voice-over]: The one thing that Washington is known for is the smoky bar, the late night drinks. For you that just doesn't work.
[Rep. Kristi Noem , South Dakota:] Well, I mean, I'm married. It's not good testimony for me to be sit in a bar late at night when my family is all the across the country. I sort of thinking it about. How can I get to have interaction with other members? And for it was the gym. We exercise together, but we talk about legislation. My name is Danny, how are you doing, huh?
[Lah:] Breaking the norm, hardly new for the conservative Congresswoman born, raised and still rancher on the 6,000 acre family plot.
[Noem:] We have had cattle and horses and raised our family here. So we'll always be here.
[Lah:] Noem made the leap to state lawmaker then in 2010 defeated the popular incumbent to go to Congress. Despite her success, this is what she heard as she announced her historic run for governor.
[Noem:] I had a few people tell me that maybe I didn't have the right body parts to be a governor. So
[Lah:] Really?
[Noem:] you know, there's just Yes. But, you know, it's a small minority of folks that we just have to change their perspective and I said, you know, that's unfortunate but we're going to win. You all have come alongside me over and over and over again. How are you doing?
[Lah:] Noem is as uncommon here as she is in Washington. Republican women make up about 10 percent of Congress. The unprecedented surge of women running for office this year has been almost completely among Democrats.
[Rep. Ileana Ros-lehtinen , Florida:] It is sad, it is depressing and the numbers are getting worse.
[Lah:] Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has represented South Dakota for nearly three decades. She says gender diversity is an afterthought for House leadership. She's retiring this year, leaving with this ominous message for her party.
[Ros-lehtinen:] Just stop with the name calling. It turns women off.
[Lah:] Do you look at the White House because
[Ros-lehtinen:] Absolutely. The rhetoric coming out of the White House is recruiting tool for liberal women to come out and counter that. And as long as we are a party that's seen as homogenous, not heterogeneous, a party that doesn't invite minorities and women, we're not going to be a welcoming party for the future. The growth for GOP women in elective office is at the local level and at the state capitols
[Lah:] Why this year are a record number of women saying that they can run in government?
[Noem:] You know, I think it's all about not missing an opportunity. Timing is everything in politics.
[Lah:] Congresswoman Noem's time may be now. She is regarded as the front-runner, pledging to govern with the innovation of a national lawmaker and a transparency of a local farmer.
[Noem:] This is about a million miles away from
[D.c. Lah:] This is far.
[Noem:] This is I live two totally different lives, that is very true.
[Lah:] You prefer a tractor to an airplane?
[Noem:] I do. You have control over your own destiny.
[Lah:] A path she hopes to forge at home. Kyung Lah, CNN, Castlewood, South Dakota.
[Whitfield:] All right, President Trump in Ohio right now. Will he speak to reporters as the chaos inside his administration and his legal team grows?