Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate, announced Monday that he will not run for president in 2016, just as his former running mate, Mitt Romney, is reportedly considering another shot at the White House.
I’ve decided not to run for President in ‘16.My job as Chairman of Ways & Means Cmte deserves my undivided attention. http://t.co/cLS4lGgpmB— Paul Ryan (@PRyan) January 12, 2015
“Our party has a responsibility to offer a real alternative," Ryan said in a statement released online on Monday. "So I’m going to do what I can to lay out conservative solutions and to help our nominee lead us to victory."
Ryan chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which is the head tax-writing committee in the House of Representatives. He said his work there "deserves undivided attention."
Reporters were quick to question why Ryan made his announcement amid the increasing buzz surrounding a possible Romney run for the Republican nomination in 2016. Ryan said in a National Journal interview last year that he would "get behind Mitt," if Romney ran again, but also said Romney had "zero plans" to run.
Paul Ryan was doing absolutely nothing that would lead anyone to think he was running for president.— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 12, 2015
Romney made clear to Ryan over wknd that he's preparing to get in the race, per sources close to both— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 12, 2015
Romney, who ran for president in 2008 and 2012, has repeatedly said he would not go after the White House again in 2016. But he recently told several donors that he may give it another shot, and the former Massachusetts governor has reportedly been trying to jumpstart his old campaign network.
If Romney does decide to jump into the fray, he will join what is shaping up to be a crowded Republican field. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have both already said they are considering a run.
Ryan, however, will not be among the many prominent Republicans duking it out for the GOP's presidential bid in 2016.
Unless he pulls a Romney, of course.