Miss North Dakota, a 23-year-old who says President Trump was wrong to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, was named Miss America 2018 on Sunday night in Atlantic City. Cara Mund topped a field of 51 contestants. In one of her onstage interviews, Mund said Trump was wrong to withdraw the US from the climate accord aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. "It's a bad decision," she said. "There is evidence that climate change is existing and we need to be at that table." In an interview with the AP before preliminary competition began, Mund, who lives in Bismarck, said her goal is to be the first woman elected governor of her state.
"It's important to have a woman's perspective," said Mund, who had an internship in the US Senate. "In health care and on reproductive rights, it's predominantly men making those decisions." An Ivy League graduate from Brown University who is headed to law school, Mund went to high school with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz. "I said, 'If Carson Wentz can do it, Miss North Dakota Cara Mund can become Miss America,'" she said after winning the title. She is the first contestant from her state to win the crown. The first runner up was Miss Missouri Jennifer Davis; second runner up was Miss New Jersey Kaitlyn Schoeffel; third runner up was Miss District of Columbia Briana Kinsey; and fourth runner up was Miss Texas Margana Wood. (More Miss America stories.)