Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) is reportedly hearing out donors who want him to mount an 11th hour campaign to beat GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

“He [Youngkin] appears to be leaving the door open,” billionaire donor Thomas Peterffy told the Washington Post‘s Robert Costa. “And if Republicans win in Virginia, maybe we can talk him into it. He obviously wants to see what emerges, what the state of play is. The money would be there.”

According to Costa, Youngkin will hear out a crowd of supportive donors at a gathering in mid-October. He reportedly is being encouraged by a number of notable Republicans, including former Attorney General Bill Barr and Rupert Murdoch.

Here’s the theory of the race according to Youngkin’s supporters, as relayed by Costa:

If Virginia’s state legislature goes Republican on Nov. 7, Youngkin could claim he flipped a state that Joe Biden won in 2020. If the governor then signaled interest in exploring a run, supporters could rush to collect signatures for him to get on the ballot in delegate-rich states, many of which have December deadlines. If he got in, he’d make a play for Iowa and build a campaign with an eye on staying in until the convention.

In the past, Youngkin has insisted he will not throw his hat in the ring. But in remarks earlier this week, he professed to be “humbled” and said he was not going to endorse a candidate at this time. The governor became a national figure in 2021 when he upset Terry McAuliffe, the popular former chief executive of Old Dominion, in the gubernatorial race.

The calls for Youngkin’s entrance into the race come as the candidates presently in the race have struggled to gain ground on Trump since this spring, when it seemed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had established himself as the most — and perhaps the only — formidable challenger to Trump.

Since then, Trump has extended his lead, while the portion of the party not committed to voting for Trump has been dispersed among several candidates, although DeSantis remains in second place.

Still, polling indicates that the other candidates still have a chance if the field winnows and a single non-Trump candidate is able to consolidate support. According to one recent CBS News/YouGov survey, 79% of Republicans in Iowa and 77% in New Hampshire — the first two primary states — are considering candidates other than Trump.

A greater proportion of voters in both states have resolved to vote for another candidate than are firmly committed to voting for Trump.

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