RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has announced he no longer plans to fight to have his name appear on the ballot during the upcoming March 6 GOP primary.
Gingrich’s legal team informed the U.S. District Court in Richmond on Saturday that the former House Speaker was voluntarily dismissing the case.
Virginia had already sent out absentee ballots to disabled and military voters and it was unlikely the judge would have interfered with that process.
A federal judge in Richmond granted Gingrich’s request to drop his challenge after the former House Speaker failed to submit the 10,000 valid signature necessary to qualify for Virginia’s presidential primary ballot.
Now only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will appear on March’s ballot. They were the only two candidates to amass the required amount of signatures.
It does not appear that Santorum, who did not turn in any signatures, has dropped the case yet.
Gingrich, a Virginia resident, said he would seek a write-in campaign, but that’s not allowed in Virginia primaries.
