With Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the Mid-Atlantic, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan followed President Obama’s lead and canceled their events slated for Monday evening and Tuesday, Republican officials announced Monday morning.

The Category 1 hurricane is hovering out in the Atlantic Ocean east of Delaware and has closed school systems, shut down transportation and canceled work plans for tens of millions in its path.

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“Out of sensitivity for the millions of Americans in the path of Hurricane Sandy, we are canceling tonight’s events with Governor Romney in Wisconsin and Congressman Ryan in Melbourne and Lakeland, Florida,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said.

“Governor Romney believes this is a time for the nation and its leaders to come together to focus on those Americans who are in harms way,” Ms. Gitcho said.

Mr. Obama had already flown to Florida on Sunday night to hold campaign events on Monday but canceled them and flew back to the White House on Monday morning. The only campaigning he did was to deliver pizzas to a campaign office — prompting one reporter, Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols, to tweet: “Obama’s 12 hour trip to Orlando. … Most expensive pizza delivery in history?”

Mr. Romney did go ahead with a morning event in Ohio, though he took time to ask those in attendance to keep those in the hurricane’s path in their thoughts, and urged them to donate to aid organizations.

“Sandy is another devastating hurricane by all accounts, and a lot of people are going to be facing some real tough times as a result of Sandy’s fury,” he said in Avon Lake, Ohio. “And so if you have the capacity to make a donation to the American Red Cross, you can go online and do that. If there are other ways that you can help, please take advantage of them because there will be a lot of people that are going to be looking for help and the people in Ohio have big hearts, so we’re expecting you to follow through and help out.”

The campaign also said it would go ahead with an afternoon event in Davenport, Iowa, with wrestling legend Dan Gable, since the doors were already opened.

Seth McLaughlin contributed to this report from Avon Lake, Ohio.