April 11 (UPI) — House Speaker Paul Ryan will announce on Wednesday that he’s leaving Congress after this year, sources told news media.
The Wisconsin lawmaker is expected to address his decision to retire in a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers, CNN reported, citing sources close to the speaker.
NPR cited sources in reporting Ryan won’t step down until November, after the midterm elections.
Ryan would join a growing list of GOP lawmakers leaving Congress, as more than 30 have announced plans to leave by the beginning of 2019.
Rumors of Ryan’s departure have been circulating for months, even after he seemed to dismiss them late last year.
“I am not going anywhere anytime soon, and let’s just leave that thing at that,” he told reporters in December when asked if he would run for re-election. He called the rumors “irresponsible.”
In January, Ryan said he would discuss re-election with his family before making an official decision.
“I have no plans of going anywhere any time soon,” he said then. “But that’s something that my wife and I always decide in late spring of the election year.”
Ryan has been in the House since 1999 and succeeded Ohio lawmaker John Boehner as House Speaker in 2015.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La. have been floated as potential successors to the speakership if Republicans keep the majority in November.
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