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Ryan’s departure sparks unrest, GOP fears losing House
By LISA MASCARO and BILL BARROW
WASHINGTON (AP) — When House Speaker Paul Ryan announced his retirement decision, he did so on his own terms. e political fallout may not be so easy to control.
Ryan’s relinquishing of one of the most powerful positions in Washington le Re- publicans scrambling ursday over not only who will replace him, but whether he can stick around until January, as he plans. Ryan’s now-lame-duck status threatens to clip
GOP fundraising just as his party is facing a more di cult — and expensive — election season than expected. Voters are red up in opposition to President Donald Trump and Republicans are mindful that their message touting regulatory relief and tax cuts may not be enough.
Control of the House was already at risk in a tough midterm election. Now some won- der aloud if the GOP grip on the majority is already lost.
“It’s like Eisenhower resigning right before D-Day,” said Tom Davis, a former Republi- can congressman from Virginia who once headed the House GOP’s campaign commit- tee.
On some level the impact is symbolic. Ryan was once viewed as the future of the party, and he currently is a rudder for a party regularly tossed about by Trump’s shi ing impulses. For Republicans ghting for their political survival, it’s hard not to take Ryan’s decision as vote of no con dence.
“Paul Ryan was the franchise,” Davis said. “With Paul, this was a Republican Party they could still give to. He’s a great brand for the party. He’s gone.”
On ursday, Ryan dismissed any chatter that maybe it would be best if he stepped aside early.
“My plan is to stay here and run through the tape,” Ryan told reporters, reminding that he had “shattered” fundraising e orts set by previous speakers.
“Italkedtoalotofmembers—alotof members - who think it’s in all of our best interest for this leadership team to stay in place,” Ryan said. “ ere is nobody who has come close to being able to raise the kind
of funds I have — and still can raise — for this majority ... It makes no sense to take the biggest fundraiser o the eld.”
But few Republicans talk of retaining con- trol of the House as a certainty. ose doubts are clear in the way they talk about the ght to replace Ryan.
Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said he won’t worry much about whom he will support for the leadership post until House Repub- licans gure out if they’ll be choosing their new speaker in fall -- or simply the minority leader.
“At that point we’ll know if we’re going to elect a Republican or Democratic speaker,” he said.
Donors, lawmakers and strategists are rais- ing red ags about and a prolonged period
of uncertainty unlike anything ever seen in modern House history.
Ryan allies insisted the speaker, who is the party’s top fundraiser and champion for a crisp GOP message, will run through the tape, giving the party his all as he races toward his retirement a er the fall election.
At the Congressional Leadership Fund, the political action committee at the forefront
of Republican e orts to maintain a House
majority, Executive Director Corry Bliss says he has Ryan’s assurance that nothing will change.
“He’s more committed than ever to see what it takes to see that CLF has the resourc- es necessary to protect the Republican ma- jority,” Bliss said. If anything, he added Ryan’s decision “frees up the speaker to raise more money for Republicans across the country.”
And besides, the strategist said, the GOP message heading to November is the same. “ e central thematic still remains: e American people simply do not want Nancy Pelosi to be the speaker.”
But a ght between two Republicans — for lawmakers a ections and donor dollars — would certainly be a distraction. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the majority leader, is seen as
a leading contender. Majority Whip Steve Scalise is viewed as the likely alternative, and his team noted ursday that he, too, had broken rst-quarter fundraising records, hauling in $3 million.
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Associated Press writer Alan Fram in Washington contributed to this report.
Follow Mascaro on Twitter at http://twit- ter.com/LisaMascaro and Barrow at https:// twitter.com/BillBarrowAP
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