House Speaker Paul Ryan Won’t Seek Re-election

BREAKING: House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told Republicans this morning that he will not run for re-election in November. A recent poll finds just 30% of Republicans think it would be bad for the country if Speaker Ryan stepped down from his position or retired.

“After nearly twenty years in the House, the speaker is proud of all that has been accomplished and is ready to devote more of his time to being a husband and a father,” Brendan Buck, counselor to the speaker, said in the statement. “While he did not seek the position, he told his colleagues that serving as speaker has been the professional honor of his life, and he thanked them for the trust they placed in him.”

Speaker Ryan, 48, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1st Congressional District back in 1998. The seat was vacated by Republican Mark Neumann, a two-term incumbent who made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. He defeated 29-year-old pianist Michael J. Logan of Twin Lakes in the Republican primary and Democrat Lydia Spottswood in the general election.

At the time, he was the second-youngest member of the U.S. House. Ultimately, he has been reelected 8 times and has never received less than 55% of the vote in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. President Donald Trump carried the district against Hillary Clinton in 2016, 52% to 42%.

It has been reported that President Trump was a factor in his decision. To be clear, he was never a strong supporter of the president. But when asked at a press conference later Wednesday morning, he rebuffed those reports.

“I thank the President for giving us this chance to do big things and get this country back on track,” he said. “So, I am grateful to him.”

In 2012, he was chosen by his friend Mitt Romney to be the Republican vice presidential nominee.

It is widely known that he has long wanted to run for president and friends still say that he could announce a White House run in the future. But for now, multiple sources tell People’s Pundit Daily (PPD) the announcement has sparked fears that donors will see this as a concession of the U.S. House and the money could dry up.