Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich may soon pull out of the presidential race, according to an interview he gave NBC News on Monday. However, the former House speaker will first consult with supporters before announcing his decision.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich may pull out of the presidential race if he performs poorly in Delaware.
Photo: Robert Craig / The News Journal.

Mr. Gingrich, who is currently in North Carolina, will wait until the results of the Delaware primary are announced on Tuesday to decide what to do next. His performance in the First State will be particularly important as his campaign invested a significant amount of money there despite experiencing serious financial hardship.

“I think we need to take a deep look at what we are doing. We will be in North Carolina tomorrow night, and we will look and see what the results [in Delaware] are. This has been a good opportunity for us, we have been here seeing a lot of people. We have got really positive responses, and I would hope we would do well here. Either carry it or come very, very close,” Mr Gingrich told NBC.

The Delaware primary, in which 17 delegates are at stake, is only one of five contests taking place on Tuesday. Mr. Gingrich is thought to have attended nine campaign events altogether in the First State over the past fortnight.

Mr. Gingrich‘s spokesman, R.C. Hammond, issued an email in which he described three possible scenarios for Tuesday night. However, he made clear that the former speaker would not announce whether he was dropping out of the race in his post-results speech.

According to Mr. Hammond, if Mr. Gingrich performs poorly in Delaware, he will continue to campaign in North Carolina before deciding whether he should call it quits. Should he narrowly lose against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Mr. Gingrich believes that this would indicate “cracks in the armor” and result in “a conservative coalition of supporters” throwing their weight behind him instead.

However, Mr. Gingrich‘s spokesman was quite bullish should the former speaker come in pole position in the First State.

“A win in Delaware builds financial and grassroots momentum going into North Carolina — combined with the ABC news report that Winning our Future has $5 million to spend on TV in North Carolina could be the beginning of a chain of wins through DE, NC, KY, WV…then into a battle royal in Texas and California,” Mr. Hammond stated.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Gingrich has so far amassed 136 delegates, whereas Mr. Romney has 685 under his belt.