Paul Ryan Is Finally Ready to Be Speaker

Despite all his protests to the contrary, it appears Paul Ryan is poised to become the next House speaker, NBC News reports. "I never thought I'd be speaker," Ryan wrote in a letter to fellow Republicans late Thursday. "But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve—I would go all in." In the letter, Ryan says he's "ready and eager" to succeed John Boehner. A vote is scheduled for next week, and Ryan is assumed to have enough support to get the position. According to the Los Angeles Times, the speaker gig has been seen as a "career-killer" for anyone wanting to be president, and Ryan has expressed a lack of desire for the roll in the past.

The New York Times reports Ryan's announcement comes on the heels of receiving endorsements from three Republican factions in the House. The moderate and mainstream Republican Study Committee and Tuesday Group announced their support Thursday. Two-thirds of the powerful and conservative House Freedom Caucus voted to endorse him Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times. Ryan had said he wanted full support from the group that forced Boehner out if he was going to run for speaker, but it was apparently enough. If Ryan does get the position, many think he has a tough road ahead of him. "First and foremost, he’s got to find a way to avoid crises or resolve them," one political professor says. "Then he’s got to find a way to reunify his party." (More Paul Ryan stories.)