Washington (CNN) House Speaker Paul Ryan is not seeking re-election and will retire from Congress after this year, the Wisconsin Republican announced Wednesday.
"You realize something when you take this job," Ryan told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning. "It's a big job with a lot riding on you ... but you also know this is not a job that does not last forever. ... You realize you hold the office for just a small part of our history. So you better make the most of it."
He reminded reporters that he took the job "reluctantly" in 2015, when he took over from John Boehner, but Ryan also said he has no "regrets."
"I like to think I've done my part, my little part in history to set us on a better course," Ryan said.
Ryan's departure is a blow to GOP members who saw the Wisconsin Republican as a stable and policy-oriented leader in a party shaken by the tumultuous Donald Trump presidency. He has been a fundraising juggernaut ahead of the midterms this fall, and helped translate GOP agenda items into legislation such as a series of tax cuts and rolling back banking legislation put in place under Democrats.
In his prepared remarks, Ryan focused on the tax law that passed last year as a key legacy he left behind and spoke at length about his desire to go home to Wisconsin to be home with his family. He said that the 2018 midterms and the chance that he wouldn't be speaker didn't factor at all into his decision to announce his retirement.
"None whatsoever actually," Ryan said.
Looming in the aftermath of Ryan's announcement is the reality of an impending leadership race that will now stretch for months ahead of a contentious midterm election. But Ryan downplayed that it would be a distraction.
Trump, who has at times fought with congressional Republican including Ryan, tweeted praise for the speaker after his announcement.
"Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question. We are with you Paul!" Trump wrote.
Who will replace Ryan?
While it has long been expected that Ryan would leave after the 115th Congress, sources close to him have said for weeks they expected he would run again in order to raise money for the party and not throw his conference into a leadership battle. Ryan "recently" came to the conclusion that wasn't the best path for him, one of the sources said.
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House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana are among the contenders congressional observers see as most likely to replace Ryan.
Scalise demurred when asked if he would run for the speakership.
"We're getting way ahead of ourselves. Obviously, there's a lot of speculation, but I've been real clear for a long time, I don't want to get into speculation," he told Fox News, adding, "We've got to make sure we keep the majority."
Scalise told Politico in March that he would not rule out running for the speakership if Ryan were to retire.
One source with the conservative bloc, the House Freedom Caucus, says McCarthy is, at this early stage, likely to have the support to become the next Speaker with the group's chairman Rep. Mark Meadows a front-runner to become Majority Leader.
Republicans say they're going to miss Ryan
Even though the Republican conference was not always unified behind Ryan, members of both parties and both chambers praised his tenure.
"Paul Ryan is a person of true integrity who I have had the great fortune to know over the last eight years," GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said in a statement. "He has served Janesville, southeastern Wisconsin and our nation honorably. We should all be grateful for his sacrifice and understand his desire to be a full-time dad."
In an apparent reference to the struggles facing Ryan, Rep. Trey Gowdy released a statement both praising the retiring speaker and encouraging those who think they can do better to step up.
"To those within Congress who always seemed to have a better idea or a smarter strategy, now is your chance to run for speaker," the South Carolina Republican said in his statement. "To those outside of Congress who always seemed to have a better idea or a smarter strategy, you do not have to be a member of the House to be speaker of the House and hence, now is your chance to run for speaker."
Meadows, of North Carolina, praised Ryan's tenure in a statement after the news broke.
"Speaker Ryan has served our country well for decades as a thoughtful policy leader in the House," he told CNN. "He will be successful in any future endeavor and I wish him all the best."
Even Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House and former speaker herself, found some kind words for her Republican counterpart.
"Despite our differences, I commend his steadfast commitment to our country," Pelosi said in a statement. "During his final months, Democrats are hopeful that he joins us to work constructively to advance better futures for all Americans."
Ryan wants to spend time with his family
According to two sources with direct knowledge, in calls this morning with his leadership team, Ryan made clear much of this decision was about spending time with his family, but also noted that he planned to leave after this Congress and didn't think it was fair to his district or the GOP conference to run for re-election only to leave right after. Sources familiar told CNN that Ryan called McCarthy and Scalise about his retirement before the news broke.
Ryan called Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday morning ahead of his announcement, a source familiar with their conversation told CNN.
The speaker met with members of his caucus on Wednesday morning. Rep. Darrell Issa of California told CNN that Ryan told members he promises to be more than a "Sunday dad" and he cited his family as part of his decision. At one point Wednesday morning, reporters outside the conference room could hear a long applause from inside the meeting.
Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, has been in Congress since 1999 and became House speaker in 2015. Ryan reluctantly ran to replace then-Speaker Boehner of Ohio, who retired after sparring regularly with the most conservative members of his conference, including many members of the House Freedom Caucus.
Some of Ryan's close friends previously told CNN that he might leave office after the 2018 midterms. Ryan said in a January interview with CBS News that re-election was a decision he and his wife were planning to make together in late spring, and in March he denied a rumor that he wouldn't seek re-election.
The news of Ryan's retirement was first reported by Axios.
This story has been updated with additional developments and will continue to update.
(CNN) Speaker Paul Ryan's decision not to seek an 11th term this fall sends a chilling signal to Republicans hoping to keep control of the House in November while also illustrating the impossibilities of serving as an elected GOP leader in Donald Trump's Washington.
"This morning Speaker Ryan shared with his colleagues that this will be his last year as a member of the House," confirmed Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong. "He will serve out his full term, run through the tape, and then retire in January."
Ryan had been hinting behind-the-scenes for months that he wasn't going to be around all that much longer. Remember that he was cajoled into taking the job in 2015 following then-Speaker John Boehner's resignation amid pressure from conservatives inside and out of Congress. Ryan initially blanched at taking the job but stepped forward when it became apparent that there was simply no one else who could win a majority of the majority's vote.
Nonetheless, his retirement will send shockwaves through a party already reeling in the face of what looks to be a growing Democratic wave headed its way in a few months time. Ryan is the 40th Republican to announce a decision not to seek reelection as compared to just 19 for Democrats.
While Ryan's seat isn't ultra-competitive -- Trump won it by 10 points -- his decision not run could well set off a slew of retirements from GOP members who had been wavering about whether to run again in what looks to be a very, very difficult national environment. ( There are still 19 states where the filing deadlines haven't passed -- including New York where filing closes on Thursday.)
"It may encourage other Republicans to not run again, I think moreso than affecting the money," Rep. Tom Massie, a Kentucky Republican, told CNN's Juana Summers. "We've already got twice as many retirements in our party as the Democrats. This may be a signal that it's OK to retire."
No matter what Ryan says about his retirement having everything to do with his personal life and nothing to do with the political winds, the simple fact is this: Speakers of the House don't retire from the job when everything is going great for their side. Odds were that Ryan would find himself as House Minority Leader when the dust cleared this November. And he didn't want that. Of course, by announcing his retirement, Ryan just made it even more likely Republicans lose the House.
While there's no doubt that the prospect of losing control of the House factored into Ryan's decision as did his personal life, the largest factor was the one sitting in the White House.
Ryan's relationship with Trump was fraught from the start. The speaker, as titular head of the Republican party, was forced to react to every untruth, exaggeration and attack leveled by the real estate magnate during the course of the 2016 campaign. After a series of attempts to distance himself -- and the GOP in Congress -- from the party's presidential nominee, Ryan cut ties entirely in early October.
"The speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities," said Strong at the time, while, behind the scenes, Ryan allies insisted he was done defending Trump in any way, shape or form
Then, Trump won.
As surprising as that result was to Ryan, he also saw an opening. Trump was as surprised as anyone about his victory. And, he had no real policy plans or idea how to accomplish them. Enter Ryan, the ideas guy of the Republican party! (For much more on all of this, check out PBS Frontline's " Trump's Takeover. ")
The problem for Ryan was that Trump wasn't willing to simply follow the blueprint the House Speaker laid out for him.
Plans to quickly repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act faltered amid the lack of any sort of consensus among Republicans as to what the party should replace Obamacare with. That slow-motion failure -- the House passed a repeal and replace measure, the Senate did not -- led to a break in Trump's trust relationship with Ryan and the rest of the GOP congressional leadership.
JUST WATCHED Who will be the next speaker after Ryan? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Who will be the next speaker after Ryan? 00:56
You told me this all would be easy and it's not, seemed to be Trump's prevailing thought. And, once he started to distrust what congressional Republicans were doing -- and what they could deliver -- things went downhill from there.
Yes, the party managed to pass a major tax cut bill -- a giant accomplishment for Ryan who has long wanted to lead a tax reform push -- but it was one piece of gold amid the dross.
The latest provocation? Trump threatened to veto the omnibus spending bill last month , insisting it didn't do enough about funding the border wall. That veto threat, which Trump eventually backed away from, stunned congressional Republicans who had already left Washington patting each other on the backs for keeping the government open and funded
JUST WATCHED Paul Ryan in 2017: Not going anywhere Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Paul Ryan in 2017: Not going anywhere 00:54
The reality for Ryan was -- and is -- this: He had hoped that the election of Trump would be a seminal moment for the rise of his ideas on taxes, deficit reduction and everything else under the sun. While he got the tax cuts he has long coveted, it became clear over the past 15 months that Trump simply didn't see the world the same way that Ryan did.
And not just that: It also became clear that the rank and file in the Republican party -- inside and outside of Congress -- were more aligned with Trump's vision of the party and the country than Ryan's.
With Trump showing no signs of changing his political approach, the party headed for what looks like be a cataclysm this fall and with his three kids entering their teen years, the time was ripe (and right) for Ryan to step aside.
It seems very unlikely, however, that Ryan has left the political stage forever. Ryan is only 48 years old. He quite clearly has national political ambitions, and it's possible that those ambitions are best served by getting out of Dodge now and waiting until the Trump era passes -- whether in 2020 or 2024 (when Ryan will only be in his his 50s).
Ryan will live to fight another day. But make no mistake: His vision of the GOP has taken a backseat to Trump's.
The Republican House speaker, Paul Ryan, will not run for re-election, an aide confirmed on Wednesday.
“This morning Speaker Ryan shared with his colleagues that this will be his last year as a member of the House,” Brendan Buck said. “He will serve out his full term, run through the tape, and then retire in January.”
Ryan’s plans have been the source of much speculation, amid Republican concerns over keeping their majority in the House of Representatives at the midterms in November.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday morning, Ryan insisted that he had never sought the job of speaker and that his plans to retire were focused on his desire to spend more time with his children. “If I’m here for one more term my kids will have only known me as a weekend dad,” said Ryan.
“This is a titanic, tectonic shift,” an unnamed Republican told Axios, which first reported the news. “This is going to make every Republican donor believe the House can’t be held.”
Ryan was first elected to Congress in 1998. He was elected House speaker in 2015 after the former House speaker John Boehner retired. He was former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s running mate in 2012.
Friends said Ryan was ready to step down after passing a tax reform bill, one of his longtime goals, Axios reported.
On Twitter, Donald Trump, who has long had a contentious relationship with Ryan, praised him. Trump wrote: “Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question. We are with you Paul!”
Ryan initially declined to endorse Trump after he clinched the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election and said Trump’s attacks on a Hispanic judge were the “textbook definition of a racist comment”. But he later embraced Trump’s candidacy and has been an ally of the administration on Capitol Hill.
Ryan’s departure increases the number of House Republicans not seeking re-election in 2018 to 46. This record exodus has left many Democrats optimistic about their chances of picking up the 24 seats they would need to retake the majority.
In a statement, Tyler Law, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said: “Speaker Ryan sees what is coming in November, and is calling it quits rather than standing behind a House Republican agenda to increase healthcare costs for middle-class families while slashing social security and Medicare to pay for his handouts to the richest and largest corporations.”
The outgoing speaker dismissed the political impact of his decision on Wednesday. “I really do not believe that whether I stay or go in 2019 is going to effect a person’s individual race for Congress,” said the Wisconsin Republican.
Ryan’s retirement also opens up a potentially contentious leadership race to replace him. He was elected speaker in 2015 after his predecessor John Boehner was forced out by conservatives in the hard-right Freedom Caucus. Boehner’s presumptive successor, the House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, was pushed out of the race by conservative pressure as well and Ryan took the gavel reluctantly as a compromise candidate.
The same pressures are likely to exist in a race to succeed Ryan with McCarthy and the minority whip, Steve Scalise, as the most likely contenders. However, any leadership election would take place after the midterms when Republicans would potentially no longer hold the majority.
The Wisconsin congressman also may leave behind a competitive race in his district. Although Trump won there by 10% in 2016, Barack Obama won the district in 2008 and narrowly lost it in 2012.
There is a competitive Democratic primary there between ironworker Randy Bryce and schoolteacher Cathy Myers. The only other Republican candidate running, Paul Nehlen, is a vocal antisemite and white nationalist.
On April 11, 2018, House Speaker Paul Ryan told colleagues he will not seek re-election, according to news reports from CNN and Axios citing unnamed sources. Seen here, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) responds to a question from the news media during a press conference about the upcoming spending bill vote in the Capitol in Washington on March 22, 2018. The house was planning to vote on the 1.3 trillion US dollars, 2,232-page 'omnibus' spending bill today so the Senate could take it up before a possible government shutdown. (Photo: SHAWN THEW, EPA-EFE)
WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Paul Ryan says he will not seek re-election.
Ryan's retirement announcement leaves a void in Republican leadership as it faces a tough series of elections that will determine whether the GOP can keep control of Congress.
The Wisconsin Republican replaced John Boehner as house speaker in 2015 and is in his tenth term as a House member.
Ryan's announcement is likely to set off a major battle for Republican leadership in the House. Possible replacements include Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., now Ryan's second-in-command, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., now the third-ranking House member.
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