House Speaker Paul Ryan is ruling out a future presidential bid, saying 2016 would have been the year for him to have sought the Oval Office.
“If I really wanted to be president, I would have run in this cycle for the presidency. I had the chance and opportunity to do so and I chose not to do that. I’m perfectly happy and content with this decision,” Ryan told CNN’s Dana Bash on Friday. The full interview will air Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Ryan was elected speaker Thursday, capping a tumultuous month for House Republicans which began when former Speaker John Boehner announced he was retiring from the House amid divisions in the Republican caucus.
Boehner, for whom Ryan volunteered during his first run for Congress in 1990, offered his own thoughts on Ryan’s future in an interview with Bash just before he left the House.
“I think he would’ve liked to have been president, but I think he’s figured out God had another plan for him to be speaker of the House,” Boehner said.
But even firm “No’s” have not always lasted for Ryan. When Boehner announced he was retiring, Ryan flatly ruled out a run for speaker. It was only after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suddenly withdrew his bid that colleagues successfully lobbied Ryan to change his mind.