U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich will win the party's nomination contest in his home state Georgia, and Mitt Romney will win the Virginia primary, according to CNN's projection of the Super Tuesday results.

A win in Georgia is important for Gingrich's struggling campaign to stay afloat, as Georgia is his home state. It is also delegate rich, with 76 delegates.

The projection was made from exit polls, and Romney came in second, ahead of Rick Santroum and Ron Paul, the other two main candidates.

But Romney did well in Virginia, where 49 delegates were at stake. Gingrich and Santorum failed to qualify for the state's stringent rules on state wide ballot access requirements -- 10,000 signatures, with at least 400 from each of the 11 congressional districts, all to be collected by Virginia residents.