Newt Gingrich to officially suspend campaign on Wednesday (VIDEO)
Republican presidential candidate, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaks during a primary night gathering at the Vintage Motor Club on April 24, 2012 in Concord, North Carolina. Gingrich announced that he will officially be suspending his campaign on Wednesday, May 2.
Newt Gingrich will officially suspend his campaign at a press conference in Virginia on Wednesday afternoon, according to an announcement on his website.
The Republican candidate released a YouTube video to his supporters on Tuesday giving them advance notice of his decision to pull the plug on his presidential ambitions, as his campaign struggles to repay its roughly $4.5 million debt.
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In the video, he thanked his supporters for their help, and pledged to continue to campaign against President Obama in what he called "the most important election of our lifetime."
"I want you to know that Callista and I are both very grateful to everybody across the country," Gingrich said. "I want you to know that we're going to continue out there on the road. Both Callista and I will be talking, campaigning, making speeches, doing everything we can to help defeat Barack Obama."
Gingrich began scaling back his campaign last week, after suffering losses in five states including Delaware, where he had campaigned heavily, ABC News reported.
More from GlobalPost: Newt Gingrich lays off a third of campaign staff, insists he's still in the race
“I do think it’s pretty clear that Gov. Romney is ultimately going to be the nominee and we’re going to do everything we can make sure that he is in fact effective," Gingrich said in North Carolina last week, according to ABC News.
Newt Gingrich's spokesman R.C. Hammond said that the former House speaker would most likely endorse Romney in the coming weeks, the Washington Post reported. Romney reportedly called Gingrich Wednesday morning to say he would welcome his endorsement, according to the Post.
The two campaigns are currently “working out the details” of the endorsement, Hammond told the Post.
Romney is not expected at Gingrich's Wednesday afternoon event, but their campaigns have discussed both politicians appearing at a second event in the near future, a source told CNN.
More from GlobalPost: Gingrich says Romney is "the most likely" Republican nominee
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