Newt Gingrich has officially conceded the Republican presidential race to Mitt Romney. The GOP presidential hopeful on Wednesday announced he would step aside after Mitt Romney sweeped the five most recent states in the GOP primary.
The announcement comes after Gingrich managed to lose Delaware, a state he hopes would help revive his campaign and eventually lead to a brokered convention.
Gingrich told a group of supporters during a Gaston County speech “it’s pretty clear Governor Romney is going to be the nominee.”
Newt Gingrich then went on to add:
“I think you have to at some point be honest with what’s happening in the real world, as opposed to what you’d like to have happened. Governor Romney had a very good day yesterday. He got 67 [percent] in one state, and he got 63 in other, 62 in another. Now you have to give him some credit. I mean this guy’s worked six years, put together a big machine, and has put together a serious campaign.
“I think obviously that I would be a better candidate, but the objective fact is the voters didn’t think that,” Gingrich said. “And I also think it’s very, very important that we be unified.”
While Newt will officially leave the campaign behind he will still campaign in North Carolina this week while his campaign works out the final details on his transition away from the GOP primary race.
In the meantime Gingrich is presumed to be keeping his $44,000 per day secret service detail until his campaign is officially suspended, a cost that has drawn outrage from various organizations who believe Gingrich should have dropped out of the race months ago.
On Friday Gingrich reported that his campaign was $4.3 million in debt, a debt he largely says was due to his attempt to fight against Mitt Romney during the Florida primary.
