LITTLE ROCK — Rick Santorum will remain on Arkansas’ May 22 Republican presidential primary ballot despite his announcement Tuesday that he is suspending his campaign, state election and Republican party officials said.
Santorum also is still expected to visit Arkansas May 11, his state campaign chairman said.
The former Pennsylvania senator announced the suspension of his campaign Tuesday afternoon during a stop in his home state. Suspending his campaign allows him to continue raising money to cover potential campaign debt and to keep his bound delegates until he releases them.
Arkansas ballots bearing Santorum’s name have already been printed and will be used in the May 22 primary, said Alex Reed, spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin.
State Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb said that if Santorum receives enough votes to qualify to receive delegates, they will be allocated according to party rules.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We thank Sen. Santorum for his unselfish offering of himself to serve our nation at a time of need. We respect his decision to suspend his campaign and wish him and his family the best as we all continue working to save America,” Webb said in a release.
Three other Republican presidential candidates have qualified for the Arkansas ballot: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.
Josh Duggar of Springdale, Arkansas chairman of Santorum’s campaign, said Santorum’s scheduled May 11 appearance at the Benton County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner has not been canceled. Campaign workers have been told that events other than political rallies are staying on the schedule, he said.
Duggar said Santorum has been “hammered at” to yield to the inevitability of a Romney nomination.
“I think that the media by far has favored Romney in general, and I feel like the establishment as a whole has really favored him,” he said.
Santorum won 11 states, including the neighboring states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Duggar said he believes Santorum will continue to have an impact on the race. Romney will need Santorum’s support to win the general election, he said.
“He needs the support of someone who has been a consistent conservative and someone who not only runs as a conservative but someone who is a conservative,” Duggar said.
Asked what Santorum’s Arkansas supporters should do when they go to the polls in May, Duggar said that decision is up to them, but he said the focus now should be on the general election.
“The biggest thing they can do is go out in November and vote against President Barack Obama,” he said.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in statement Tuesday, “It’s no surprise that Mitt Romney finally was able to grind down his opponents under an avalanche of negative ads. But neither he nor his special interest allies will be able to buy the presidency with their negative attacks. The more the American people see of Mitt Romney, the less they like him and the less they trust him.”
Romney said in a statement, “Sen. Santorum is an able and worthy competitor, and I congratulate him on the campaign he ran. He has proven himself to be an important voice in our party and in the nation. We both recognize that what is most important is putting the failures of the last three years behind us and setting America back on the path to prosperity.”