The lovely Miss North Dakota Cara Mund was officially crowned Miss America on Sunday night after four evenings of intense competition.
She is the first winner from that great state.
The 2018 Miss America winner is the first contestant from North Dakota to even reach the top five at the revered pageant.
The 2017 Miss America, Savvy Shields, passed on the tiara to Mund at the final night of competition in Atlantic City, N.J.
Needless to say, tears were shed.
Cara Mund won out among 51 beautiful women from across the U.S. and the District of Columbia in a host of categories.
The women were each evaluated on their performances in evening wear, fitness, lifestyle, talent and interview abilities.
Mund, 23, said President Donald Trump was wrong to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, for example.
In one of her onstage interviews, Mund stated that she believes greenhouse gas emissions do contribute to global warming.
“It’s a bad decision,” she said at the pageant. “There is evidence that climate change is existing. We need to be at that table.”
(The President of the United States owns the Miss USA pageant but is not affiliated with Miss America or its competitors.)
She wasn’t just getting political to score points – Cara truly believes this and has her sights set on public office herself.
Mund, who lives in Bismarck, N.D., also said that her goal in life is to be the first woman elected governor of her state.
She said she wants to see more women elected to all levels of government, and sees herself leading the way someday.
“It’s important to have a woman’s perspective,” Mund, who has already had an internship in the U.S. Senate, said.
“In health care and on reproductive rights” in particular, she noted, “it’s predominantly men making those decisions.”
The first runner up last night was Miss Missouri Jennifer Davis, while the second runner up was Miss New Jersey Kaitlyn Schoeffel.
The third runner up was Miss District of Columbia Briana Kinsey, and the fourth runner up was Miss Texas Margana Wood.
Miss Florida Sara Zeng sent a message of support to those in harm’s way from Hurricane Irma before being eliminated.
Zeng, a 22-year-old from Palm Coast, Fla., expressed concern and support for friends and strangers endangered there:
“I’m thinking about everyone in Florida every single day, but I know that regardless what happens, we’ll all get through this together.”
Earlier in the week, Miss Texas Margana Wood drew attention to Hurricane Harvey and her flooded hometown, Houston.
She won Wednesday night’s swimsuit preliminary; Zeng won Friday’s swimsuit prelim. Neither could best Mund in the end.
The competition took place in Atlantic City, where it originated as a way to extend summer tourism to the weekend following Labor Day.
All of the women were vying to succeed the outgoing Miss America Savvy Shields, who won the title last September as Miss Arkansas.
The first crown was handed out in 1921.