Former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) will endorse Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), his one-time rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, at an event Wednesday night in Grand Rapids, Mich., multiple sources told Roll Call on Wednesday afternoon.

Support from Edwards, who ended his populist campaign for the White House prior to the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests, was viewed as a huge prize by both the campaigns of Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.). Edwards won 19 pledged delegates in the early primaries and caucuses — though those delegates are not bound by Edwards’ endorsement.

The announcement is expected to come at a previously scheduled Obama event slated to begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

– Erin P. Billings and Tory Newmyer