1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Paul Ryan says 'no' to presidential run pressure

April 12, 2016

US House Speaker Paul Ryan has ruled out a White House run. The former Republican vice presidential nominee made it clear that his name would not be in consideration should his party face a contested convention in July.

https://p.dw.com/p/1IUD1
Washington - Paul Ryan PK Syrische Flüchtlinge
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Reynolds

"I made a really clear choice not to run for president. Therefore, I will not be nominated," Ryan said in a radio interview. "It will not be me. I don't know how I can be clearer than that."

The delegates should choose "among the people who actually ran for president this year," the House Speaker added.

Ryan's position as the top elected Republican in Washington and his relatively positive reputation have made him the subject of increasingly persistent rumors that he might be tapped to replace controversial frontrunners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

If no one has the 1,237 delegates from primary elections required to be officially nominated at the party convention in the summer, delegates will go to a second round of voting, in which they are no longer bound to vote as their state did. With the popularity of Trump making the Republican establishment increasingly nervous, some have been floating the idea of running Ryan as a more likeable candidate.

The Congressman from Wisconsin has repeatedly said he has no interest in running for president, though his supporters have pointed out that he said similar things about becoming House Speaker until advocates persuaded him.

Kasich: I'm the Trump antidote

Ryan's announcement came on the heels of third-place Republican presidential candidate John Kasich announcement that he would never agree to be Donald Trump's vice president. Trying to present himself as the solution to the Trump problem, Kasich gave a speech in New York ahead of the primary vote in that state.

"Some who feed off of the fears and anger that is felt by some of us and exploit it feed their own insatiable desire for fame or attention. That could drive America down into a ditch, not make us great again," Kasich said, referencing a popular Trump slogan.

es/bk (AFP, Reuters)