Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan Announces He Will Not Run For Re-Election

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan

Confirming months of rumors, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced this morning that he will not run for re-election in the November mid-term elections.

From The New York Times:

Mr. Ryan said he will serve until the end of this Congress in January, which will mark 20 years in Congress. He insisted he will be “leaving this majority in good hands with what I believe is a very bright future.”

But his retirement, at the age of 48, is sure to kick off a succession battle for the leadership of the House Republican Conference, likely between the House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy of California, and the House majority whip, Steve Scalise of Louisiana. And it could also trigger another wave of retirements among Republicans not eager to face angry voters in the fall and taking their cue from Mr. Ryan.

The announcement from Ryan marked the 40th House Republican to signal retirement ahead of what looks like a tough mid-term election cycle for the GOP. Only 19 Democrats have announced they won't seek re-election.

Coming just an hour after Ryan, GOP Rep. Dennis Ross of Florida also declared his time in Congress would come to an end after the mid-terms.

Many political experts posit that after finally achieving his lifelong dream of tax reform, Ryan had no appetite to return to the minority should the Democrats retake control of the House this fall.

.@SpeakerRyan could have been a check on Trump. But Ryan rarely challenged the President on anything. They had real ideological differences too: on trade, on the deficit, and on tax cuts.

— Chris Matthews (@HardballChris) April 11, 2018

Congrats to Paul Ryan for finally succeeding in giving the people what they want.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) April 11, 2018

Paul Ryan's retirement announcement "a big indicator that the speaker doesn’t think he’d be speaker anymore,” Chris Christie tells @ABC.

“If you’re a betting person, you’re betting on the Democrats for the House in the fall.” https://t.co/x7HaudrTZ2 pic.twitter.com/Q8yNFncSPz

— ABC News (@ABC) April 11, 2018

The front-runner for the GOP nomination for Ryan's seat is apparently an anti-Semitic, white supremacist named Paul Nehlen. According to ThinkProgress.com he's been kicked off Twitter and Breitbart for his offensive chatter.

Your definitive rundown on the white nationalist who benefits the most from Paul Ryan’s retirement, courtesy of @lachlan https://t.co/2KCHLuodxD pic.twitter.com/Ie4U1DMnlE

— Sam Stein (@samstein) April 11, 2018