While the 2024 Republican primary field continues to attract high-profile contenders to the ring some top GOP donors are holding out hope for another candidate.
Interactive Brokers founder Thomas Peterffy, a billionaire who has supported Republican candidates in the past, says he hopes Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin takes the leap.
“I would like to vote for a person who, in my view, is most likely to be able to win the general election. And accordingly, we have to pick somebody in primaries that we believe is most likely to win the general. And that is going to be a person that I believe is more likely to be a centrist candidate, ” Peterffy said on Tuesday.
“I think that [Glenn Youngkin] would be an ideal candidate, although it is not very likely that he's going to run. Not at this point, certainly,” he added.
“I think that he is the person that most people will find very, very attractive,” he said. “And he goes along with the main Republican ideals of individual freedom and economic freedom. And that's where the issue basically is. And less regulation, smaller government, etc.”
Peterffy noted that his experience growing up in a Socialist country has only made him more determined to support candidates that will prevent the U.S. from becoming a Socialist country.
“I grew up in a socialist country, and I'm deathly afraid of ending up in the same situation, and I will do practically anything to avoid it,” he said.
Despite interest from outside parties, Gov. Youngkin has been hesitant to enter the 2024 primary field.
Last month, reports indicated the Virginia governor is “reconsidering” mounting a 2024 bid for the White House despite previously refuting such claims. (RELATED: Republican Gov. ‘Reconsidering' White House Bid)
“He's reconsidering,” a source close to Youngkin told Axios. “He'd be in his own lane: He's not never-Trump, and he's not Trump-light.”
Besides former President Trump, the Republican presidential nomination field includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina governor and former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former two-term Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, multimillionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson.
Dark-horse GOP candidate North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum also launched his presidential campaign hours before Mike Pence's official announcement.
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