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 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 Republicans 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.
How Ryan made his decision
The discussions about Ryan's future have been closely held, according to a person familiar with the decision. Along with his wife, Janna, and his three kids, Ryan has been discussing next steps with a group of roughly six close aides for the last several months.
This person said Ryan made his decision over the spring recess with his family while spending some time with them overseas after his official trip wrapped up in the Czech Republic.
"This has been a direction that he has been heading in for a while, but I will say as recently as February he has been talking about running again," this person said. Even before his biggest legislative accomplishment -- tax reform -- was across the finish line Ryan was contemplating that this would be his last term in the House.
The speaker directed his aides to never definitely say he was running for re-election, and his public comments always gave him the room to step down next year.
One thing that was always part of the speaker's calculus, and he has spoken about throughout his career, was the impact of losing his father at the age of 16.
"It's always weighed heavily on him. and at a moment like this when his kids are reaching the same age as when his father passed away, it's especially poignant," the person familiar with the decision told reporters.
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 of California 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.
Ryan is likely to weigh in publicly on who should succeed him as speaker. The person familiar with Ryan's decision said, "He has thoughts on this and he will share those at a later time."
That source insisted that the leadership race can wait until January, and the speaker can still effectively lead the GOP conference: "He has confidence that his leadership team will be able to pull together and get the job done for the rest of the year."
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.
Explaining his decision to his Republican colleagues Wednesday morning at a meeting in the Capitol, a subdued Mr. Ryan said he wanted to spend more time with his children, who live in the same town where the speaker grew up.
He pledged that he would help fellow Republicans extensively in the 2018 campaign and said he would continue raising money at a powerful pace, according to two lawmakers in the room. Mr. Ryan has become the party’s most important fund-raiser in the House and Republicans have been counting on him to help them collect and spend tens of millions of dollars defending their majority this fall.
He pointed to the recently enacted overhaul of the tax code and increased military spending as his signal accomplishments.
Growing emotional at points, Mr. Ryan said family considerations weighed heavily on his retirement, explaining that his daughter was 13 when he became speaker and he did not want to be a remote figure in her teenage years.
“The truth is, it is easy for it to take over everything in your life and you can’t just let that happen because there are other things in life that can be fleeting as well: Namely your time as a husband and a father,” he told reporters.
But he has also been forced to answer for a constant stream of provocations and slights from President Trump, and his retirement announcement was no exception. Asked what should be done if the president has the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, fired, he answered, “I have no reason to believe that is going to happen. I’ve been talking to people in the White House about it.”
Representative Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania who is also retiring, noted the difficulty of Mr. Ryan’s position.
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“We can all read between the lines,” Mr. Dent said. “This is not an easy administration to be dealing with.”
Mr. Ryan has been publicly noncommittal for months about running for re-election, repeating a formulation that he was not going anywhere any time soon. At the retreat in Austin, Tex., Mr. Ryan was opaque about his plans for 2018, saying that he and his wife, Janna, would confer in the coming weeks to make a decision, according to two people who attended the gathering.
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But some in the audience found that unconvincing, and some party strategists indicated that his refusal to commit to running again was offering an excuse to donors to withhold from giving to House campaign efforts.
Mr. Ryan said he had considered the effect his retirement would have on other lawmakers seeking re-election, but said his decision to retire was not based on signs of a growing Democratic wave.
“If we do our job, as we are, we are going to be fine as a majority,” he said.
Back in his Southeastern Wisconsin district, Mr. Ryan was facing a spirited challenge from two Democrats, Randy Bryce, better known by his Twitter handle, “Iron Stache,” and a schoolteacher, Cathy Myers. On his right flank, an avowed anti-Semite, Paul Nehlen, was making another run at the Republican nomination — and earning a national following among white supremacists.
Mr. Ryan is by far the most prominent figure fleeing Congress in a long season of Republican retirements. More than 40 House Republicans are leaving the chamber to retire or seek other offices, including a number who have voiced concern about the 2018 elections and intense dissatisfaction with the state of Washington under Mr. Trump. Several others have resigned in personal scandals.
The exodus has further endangered Republicans’ already tenuous hold on Congress, creating open seats in states like New Jersey and California that Republicans will struggle to hold. Republicans acknowledged on Wednesday morning that Mr. Ryan’s seat will be far more vulnerable without the speaker on the ballot.
Mr. Trump offered well-wishes on Twitter ahead of a planned dinner with Republican congressional leaders at the White House Wednesday evening.
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader who longs to return to the speakership, was faint with her praise.
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“The Speaker has been an avid advocate for his point of view and for the people of his district,” she said in a statement. “Despite our differences, I commend his steadfast commitment to our country.”
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, urged Mr. Ryan to use his last months as speaker to work toward bipartisan compromises.
“With his newfound political freedom, I hope the Speaker uses his remaining time in Congress to break free from the hard-right factions of his caucus that have kept Congress from getting real things done,” he said. “If he’s willing to reach across the aisle, he’ll find Democrats willing and eager to work with him.”
Meantime, the scramble to succeed Mr. Ryan atop the Republican conference — if not the House majority — could prove intense. Mr. McCarthy made a run at the speakership after then-Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio announced his retirement but fell flat. Mr. Scalise will be a sentimental favorite after surviving a near-death shooting at a congressional baseball practice. But his ascent would signal another Republican turn to the right.
“I think everybody will start jockeying for position immediately,” said Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, the chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus. “They won’t wait for nine months.”
The speaker made the decision over the spring congressional recess, a period during which he took his family on a vacation to Austria. Mr. Ryan has been frustrated with the seemingly unending tensions in his conference between conservative hard-liners and mainstream Republicans and the unpredictable Mr. Trump, whose recent tilt toward imposing tariffs and inviting a trade war is anathema to the free market-oriented speaker.
Mr. Ryan, who told his staff about his decision at an early-morning meeting, indicated to advisers that he knows retiring will create political difficulties for the party but that he felt he could not in good conscience commit to another full two-year term.
Yet that is of little comfort to those Republicans on the ballot this year who were expecting Mr. Ryan to campaign with lawmakers across the country. Even though he vowed to keep fulfilling his political responsibilities, he will not be nearly the draw as a lame duck. And with the filing period yet to pass in 19 states, it is now virtually impossible for Mr. Ryan to convince other lawmakers that they must run again.
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“This is the nightmare scenario,” said former Representative Thomas M. Davis, a Virginia Republican. “Everybody figured he’d just hang in there till after the election.”
And Mr. Ryan has been the most important voice on the right calling for a campaign message focused on the economy and taxes, rather than the hard-right culture war issues Mr. Trump delights in stoking.
Mr. Ryan indicated to advisers that he knows retiring will create political difficulties for the party but that he felt he could not in good conscience commit to another full two-year term, according to two Republicans familiar with the conversations.
Yet his explanation is of little comfort to those Republicans on the ballot this year who were expecting Mr. Ryan to raise millions for and campaign with lawmakers across the country. Even though he vowed to colleagues on Wednesday that he would keep fulfilling those political responsibilities, he will not be nearly as big a draw at fund-raisers now that he is a lame duck.
Former Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York, a former chairman of the Republicans’ House campaign committee, said that Mr. Ryan had effectively scrambled the party’s fund-raising machinery and that other, lower-profile leaders would have to pick up the slack.
“It will be a difficult task for Paul to hold his strong, vibrant fund-raising,” Mr. Reynolds said. “When you’re a lame duck, it changes those dynamics.”
And with the candidate filing period still open in 19 states, Mr. Ryan has lost any real power to convince other wavering Republicans that they must run again.
Illustrating the party’s grim prospects, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Wednesday that it was now less likely that Republicans would keep their majority in the House than it was on Tuesday. “And yesterday they were not likely to hold the House,” he said.
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As recently as last week, Mr. Ryan gathered his top political donors in Austin, Tex., to lay out the party’s strategy for the election and seek their financial support. While Mr. Ryan was noncommittal there about his plans for seeking re-election, he did not indicate his exit was imminent.
Trying to reassure his startled colleagues on Wednesday morning, Mr. Ryan told Republicans that he would “run through the tape” with them in the 2018 elections.
But it is unlikely Mr. Ryan will be able to perform his core leadership duties with the same force he has wielded up to this point. Some party strategists had already grumbled after the Texas gathering that his unwillingness to commit to running again was offering an excuse to major donors to not provide substantial contributions to House campaign efforts.
Voicing the frustration of many Republicans in the capital, Mr. Davis praised Mr. Ryan’s character but added, “Political leaders sometimes need to be a little more political.”
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Mr. Davis said the party must now swiftly press its agenda, warning that Republicans cannot simply promote the recent tax overhaul in the face of the steady drip of news from the Russia investigation of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.
“They can’t wait for Mueller and be reactive,” he said. “They have gavels, they ought to be out there passing an infrastructure bill, doing something. You can’t just do four corners.”
If there is a silver lining to Mr. Ryan’s departure, it was voiced by one House Republican in a competitive district who — speaking on the condition of anonymity so as not to offend the speaker — said that Democrats were now deprived of a shiny object they delighted in targeting in campaign ads. And other Republican lawmakers said they had long ago assumed that Mr. Ryan would not be around much longer.
Mr. Ryan’s announced exit also threatens to divide the rest of the Republican leadership team in the House: the second- and third-ranking House Republicans, Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana, are competing to succeed Mr. Ryan. The fourth-ranking lawmaker, Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, faces a difficult campaign for re-election.
Mr. Gingrich said the heirs to Mr. Ryan must quickly seize control or else doom the party.
“There will be a period of depression and confusion lasting anywhere from two to six weeks,” he said. “And then McCarthy and Scalise will realize the burden is on them to save the majority.”
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“But if they go run a scared, timid and confused campaign, they’re going to lose the House and be lucky to keep the Senate,” he said.
In a sign that Republican retirements are likely to continue, Representative Dennis A. Ross of Florida, who holds a conservative-leaning but not safe seat, announced on Wednesday morning that he would leave at the end of his current term. He said on CNN that the negative atmosphere in Washington was “a factor” in his decision and urged his soon-to-be-former colleagues to brandish a Ryan-like message in the fall.
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“Traditionally, in the midterm, the majority is always in trouble,” Mr. Ross said. “I would go back and tell the members to go back and protect their districts. They’ve got to run on the economy.”
More junior lawmakers, too, may take Mr. Ryan’s exit as a bracing reminder of the political environment.
Representative Peter T. King of New York, a long-serving Republican, said Mr. Ryan had played down the impact of his decision and predicted that no one would “win or lose an election based on whether Paul Ryan is the speaker.” But newer members, who may never have served under a speaker other than Mr. Ryan, had grown to see him as a kind of political security blanket, Mr. King said. There was a reassurance in trusting that Mr. Ryan “would be there if they needed campaign contributions,” he added.
“It was just a comfort zone, knowing that Paul Ryan was there, for a lot of these people,” Mr. King said, warning: “They’ll have to really learn how to run a real race.”
