For over a year, the question festered and was the subject of endless rumors on Capitol Hill: When will Paul Ryan give up the gavel?
After more than three years, Ryan will exit the speakership and head home to Janesville, Wis., to begins his life outside of elected office. But having taken over as a reluctant replacement for John Boehner in 2015, Ryan has dealt with constant speculation wondering how long he will actually hold the position.
According to a source familiar with the speaker, Ryan had held an ongoing discussion for several months with a small group of staff and his wife, Janna, before making a final decision over the two-week recess period. Ryan spent the first part of the week on an official trip to the Czech Republic before vacationing in Vienna, Austria, with his family for a few days before returning to the U.S., according to another source familiar with the trip.
During that recess period, Ryan’s status as speaker cropped up again when Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., told a local reporter that he was rumored to be resigning his post in 30-60 days. Ryan told reporters Wednesday that he never planned to leave midterm and will do so in January.
“This has been a direction that he has been heading in for a while,” said the first source, adding that he had been talking about running for re-election as recent as February.
“Last night, he wanted to set up a call for this morning. That normally doesn’t happen with the speaker, so we knew something was on the horizon for him,” said Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., about the call with the Wisconsin delegation. “I suspected this was it.”
“It was kind of a Wisconsin hug on the phone,” Duffy said of the call. “It’s been a sad time. There’s been moist eyes whether it was today in the conference or in lunch.”
Ryan’s announcement to the entire GOP conference was an emotional one that included several standing ovations and cheers from his colleagues who, despite losing their leader, are impressed that someone would actually abdicate the speakership on his own terms, which Ryan mentioned in his press conference. Many members pointed to Ryan leaving “the pinnacle of power.”
“There are some people in this business that you would shake your head at and say, ‘going home to be with my family’ is just an excuse,” said Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill. “Paul Ryan’s not one of them.'”
While Ryan kept a very close inner circle in the decision making process, some close to him say that Ryan’s decision was still startling despite his oft-repeated desire to be with his wife and three kids.
[Related: He’s out — Paul Ryan explains his kids were behind decision to quit]
“Yeah, I was some-what surprised,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., a former roommate of the speaker during their early days in Washington who also has a young family.
“I think the world of him. Sure, I wish he were staying, but this takes a lot out of a person and I can’t fault him,” Toomey said. “It’s very hard. It’s very, very hard to be away for long periods of time. It’s very hard in the first place, and when you have to be away for long periods of time and you don’t feel like you’re accomplishing what you want to be accomplishing — sometimes you’re not accomplishing anything — it’s very, very hard.”
Ryan said Wednesday part of the reason now is the time is the accomplishment aspect, pointing to the tax reform package signed into law in December.
For Ryan personally, the question now turns to what he will do after leaving Washington. Some have pointed to a future presidential run, although the first source familiar said being speaker is the last elective office he will hold.
When asked after the announcement what the future will hold for Ryan, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., joked that he will be more than glad to escape the protective detail that has followed Ryan’s every move since Oct. 2015.
“He’ll be, I think, extremely happy,” Johnson said with a laugh. “He’s just a regular guy … He’ll love just becoming a regular guy again.”
