On Wednesday, April 11, the 54th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan announced that he will not run for reelection. Ryan—who represents the 1st congressional district of Wisconsin—likely would have competed with the following Wisconsinites: state Sen. Dave Craig, state Rep. Samantha Kerkman, and University of Wisconsin-Madison Board of Regents member Bryan Steil.

In his announcement, Ryan informed reporters that he initially did not want to assume the position of Speaker, but acquiesced. Liberal political pundit Lawrence O’Donnell stated that Ryan is “the worst of this country’s Speakers of the House of Representatives.” Ryan was considered by many conservatives, however, to be a champion of deficit reduction in the Obama Administration.  His previously declared desire to reduce the national deficit took an immediate about-face after President Trump’s inauguration.

After pursuing an undergraduate degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Ryan served as an aide to US Senator Bob Kasten. Without having personally assumed elected office, Ryan ran for Congress and won in 1998—becoming the second-youngest member of the House of Representatives. Ryan served as chair of both the Budget Committee (2011-15) and the Committee on Ways and Means (2015) before succeeding John Boehner as Speaker.