South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks during the third night of the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — From the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump called on governors to “liberate” residents, reopen schools and get businesses back to normal.

No governor followed that advice more closely — and with more attention-seeking fervor — than South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

The first-term governor never shut down businesses, never mandated mask-wearing and welcomed two massive public gatherings to her state this summer — a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore, which Trump attended, and a motorcycle rally attended by hundreds of thousands of people.

Noem was rewarded Wednesday with a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention. She gave an address hitting the themes she has emphasized during the pandemic — personal responsibility and freedom.

“We are not — and will not be — the subjects of an elite class of so-called experts. We the people are the government,” she said in leading off the convention speeches in Washington Wednesday.

Noem also broadly cast cities governed by Democrats as “being overrun by violent mobs,” as many have before her on the two previous nights of the convention.

Also speaking Wednesday night were Vice President Mike Pence, presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway and President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.