Paul Ryan to announce he will not seek re-election; there’s talk of who will replace him as speaker

DCNFHenry Rodgers, DCNF

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan told confidants he will not seek re-election and will soon make an announcement on the matter, The Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed Wednesday.

(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The news comes as rumors that Ryan would retire in the coming months have continued to surface. Ryan, who has been speaker since 2015, told members close to him as well as his staffers that he would not seek re-election Wednesday morning.

The question now is who will replace Ryan as speaker. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise announced his interest in Ryan’s job publicly in an interview in late March.

The Louisiana Republican said he would be very interested in “moving up” in leadership and mentioned that he believes he has a “strong influence” on legislation in Congress in an interview with Politico.

Scalise, however, made it clear that talk of Ryan’s retirement are “rumors.” Many of his allies also say he would only assume the position if his colleague Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not have the votes.

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” Scalise said in the interview. “Obviously, I’ve shown interest in the past at moving up. I’ve enjoyed being in leadership. I feel like I’ve had a strong influence on some of the things that we’ve done, and I’ve helped put together coalitions to pass a full repeal of Obamacare.”

Ryan has yet to publicly announce if he will seek re-election but has called reports of his potential retirement “rank speculation.”

The Wisconsin Republican will  reportedly hold a press conference Wednesday at 10 am.

Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter

 For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

PLEASE JOIN OUR NEW COMMENT SYSTEM! We love hearing from our readers and invite you to join us for feedback and great conversation. If you've commented with us before, we'll need you to re-input your email address for this. The public will not see it and we do not share it.

Latest Articles