(TheRedAlertNews.com) – A leading political donor of the Republican Party – billionaire Thomas Peterffy – has ended his support for Florida’s GOP Governor Ron DeSantis after DeSantis signed a new, more restrictive anti-abortion bill into law.
In an interview with Financial Times, Peterffy explains he paused his support for DeSantis because of the latter’s positions on abortion, among other things.
The billionaire’s comments come after DeSantis recently signed a new bill to restrict abortion in Florida to the 6th week of pregnancy, a so-called “heartbeat bill,” after a state law from last year had already limited it to the 15th week of pregnancy.
Unlike last year’s bill, however, the new one provides some exceptions to allow abortion after the 6th week.
“I have put myself on hold, because of his stance on abortion and book banning,” billionaire Thomas Peterffy said about DeSantis.
“Myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry,” added the heavyweight GOP donor, as cited by Newsmax.
Peterffy, who was born in Hungary during World War II, is the founder and chairman of Interactive Brokers. He has a fortune of $26 billion, according to Forbes.
The report notes that the Democratic Party has been seeking to use the abortion issue against conservatives and Republicans due to its “political toxicity,” thus limiting donations and votes for social conservatives.
That seems to have worked concerning Ron DeSantis, as demonstrated by Peterffy’s decision to stop supporting the Florida governor’s cause, even though the latter has not made his suspected 2024 GOP nomination plans official.
“The Republicans have a very big problem,” Peterffy said of the abortion issue.
“We are waiting to see who among the primary candidates is most likely to be able to win the general, and then put all of our firepower behind them,” the billionaire declared.
In the 2020 election, Peterffy threw his weight behind former President Donald Trump.
Since then, he has decided not to support Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination and declared that he was “looking forward,” and Florida’s Governor DeSantis would be his pick.
Yet, Peterffy is no longer as excited about the prospects of nominating DeSantis for the White House as he used to be.
“DeSantis seems to have lost some momentum. I am more reluctant to back him,” he declared.
At the same time, even though he doesn’t like the governor’s stance on social issues and abortion, the billionaire donor stated he remained supportive of DeSantis’s work on eliminating Disney’s influence from politics.
“I think it’s insane that a company would take a stand on gender issues,” Peterffy said.
His comments also come against the backdrop of a Saturday GOP donor event in Nashville, Tennessee, with Trump as the keynote speaker.
The event wasn’t attended by DeSantis but featured Vice President Mike Pence, anti-Trump Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu.
The political toxicity of the abortion issue for conservatives is rearing its head once again, including one large Republican donor who is reportedly pocketing his support for Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis. https://t.co/QhbUVWMU3T
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) April 16, 2023
