House Speaker Paul Ryan will leave Congress at the end of his current term, he announced today, setting up a vigorous contest among his deputies to replace him.

Ryan will conclude his service in January, he said, after 20 years in the House of Representatives.

'If I am here for one more term, my kids will only have ever known me as a weekend dad,' the GOP leader whose own father passed away at the age of 16 said. 'I just can't let that happen.'

A statement on his retirement in no way mentioned the president with whom Ryan has a notoriously rocky relationship, and the Republican rep said at a press conference that Donald Trump's election had nothing to do with his decision to quit Congress.

In a tweet this morning Trump downplayed the division, as well, calling Ryan a 'good man' who will leave behind a 'legacy of achievement that nobody can question.'

In an interview later in the day, Ryan ruled out a challenge to Trump and a future presidential bid of any kind, telling CNN, 'I'm not going to run for president. That is not my plan. I'm not going to do that.'

He similarly told Politico, 'I'm done seeking elected office.'

House Speaker Paul Ryan will leave Congress at the end of his current term, he announced today

Ryan has a notoriously rocky relationship with the Republican president who he completely distanced himself from in 2016 after a vulgar video of Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault came out. He's seen here celebrating with Trump in December on the one policy priority in which they agreed: tax reform

In a tweet after the announcement, Trump downplayed the division, calling Ryan a 'good man' who will leave behind a 'legacy of achievement that nobody can question'

WHO WILL REPLACE RYAN AS SPEAKER? Two of Paul Ryan's deputies are now tee'd up to face off for his GOP leadership position. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who tried and failed to win the position last time around is certainto run. Also a certainty is and Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who took a bullet during a baseball practice shooting last year, are both expected to seek it. A group of conservative lawmakers known as the House Freedom Caucus tanked McCarthy's last bid. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said Wednesday that the McCarthy had made strides in the right direction since then - suggesting he would edge ahead. Scalise previously said he would not run against McCarthy because he was focused on the 2018 elections - which does not rule out a 209 run. But in reality a Republican defeat would mean the Democrats will elect the next speaker. So Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, would be in top spot after the new Congress sits. However she faces her own internal challenge and could be voted out of the party's top spot. Possible replacements include her deputy, Steny Hoyer and the number three Democrat, James Clyburn. Both are in their late 70s, however, and younger challengers could include Joseph Crowley, and Tim Ryan, who previously tried to depose Pelosi. Advertisement

Ryan completely distanced himself from Donald Trump in 2016 after a vulgar video of the 'Apprentice' star bragging about sexual assault surfaced.

He subsequently refused to defend or campaign with Trump, then the GOP nominee for president, in the general election.

The two men had been working better together since Trump took office, particularly after the GOP-run Congress scored big with tax reform.

Still, the election of Trump signaled a shift in Republican politics that was a departure from Ryan's own, and the high-ranking GOP lawmaker frequently found himself at odds ideologically and rhetorically with the sitting president.

'We're very different people. I'm from the Upper Midwest. I'm not from New York. We're from a different generation. So we definitely have different styles,' he acknowledged to CNN.

Reflecting on their interactions prior to the election, Ryan admitted, 'We had a lot of friction in our relationship.

'What we learned is, we have a common agenda that we agree on, and we want to get it done, and we know it's going to make a big difference in people's lives,' he said of their relationship now. 'I think it is our job on behalf of the people we represent, the people of this nation, to focus on their problems, get things done, make a big difference. And that is what we're doing.'

But Ryan also told Politico on Wednesday that he wished that Trump would share his grievances, of which he's had several with Ryan, with him and not tweet them.

'It works better to have private conversations than public disputes,' Ryan said.

FAMILY MAN: Ryan said he wanted to retire before his children only knew him as a 'weekend dad'

WE HAVE A QUORUM: The family of Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., is recognized before he was sworn in on the House floor as the 62nd Speaker of the House, October 29, 2015. From left, are sons Sam, Charlie, daughter Liza, and wife Janna. Mitt Romney also appears in the second row

Putting aside their personal differences, Ryan and Trump did not always see eye-to-eye on the GOP's agenda. Ryan notably disagreed with Trump's approach to trade.

The GOP lawmaker had helped to shepherd through a 12-nation Pacific Rim pact that was championed by the last administration only for Trump to scuttle it. The accord took effect last month without the United States' participation.

Trump's new steel and aluminum tariffs have also been the butt of vociferous opposition from Ryan. He warned the administration in March that the sweeping action could have 'unintended consequences' on the economy and American workers.

The former head of the Way and Means Committee in the House, the panel that oversees tax law, had wanted to make welfare reform his next big project but found his vision overshadowed by the larger-than-life president. Trump is pushing Congress to make infrastructure its next initiative.

With the mid-term elections on the horizon, neither was likely to happen this legislative session. And the prospects for GOP victories at the congressional level will get even worse if Republicans don't hold the line in the U.S. Senate, where they already have the slimmest of majorities.

Ryan, a self-proclaimed policy wonk with an affinity for life-size charts, will certainly leave behind unfinished business. He had been increasingly frustrated, though, that his chamber would pass legislation only to have it stall in the gridlocked Senate.

'The speaker is proud of all that has been accomplished and is ready to devote more of his time to being a husband and a father,' Brendan Buck, a top aide to Ryan, asserted.

The news website Axios said this morning that Ryan has been telling friends he will not run for reelection this year. He planned to break the news to his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill this morning, Politico reported.

In a statement issued part-way through the meeting, Ryan's office said that the speaker 'shared with his colleagues that this will be his last year as a member of the House.'

'He will serve out his full term, run through the tape, and then retire in January,' Buck said. 'While he did not seek the position, he told his colleagues that serving as speaker has been the professional honor of his life, and he thanked them for the trust they placed in him.'

Ryan was pushed into the role of speaker after John Boehner abruptly resigned in 2015. He did not want the job, and did not run for it the first time around. He stepped up only after his Republican colleagues begged him to take on the responsibility.

In spite of the way he fell into, Ryan said Wednesday that being House speaker had been one of the two great honors of his life, with the other being his position as a dad.

'I have given this job everything I have,' he said. 'And I have no regrets whatsoever.'

His exit from Congress will set up a competitive race to replace him as speaker, assuming the GOP keeps its majority in November. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP Whip Steve Scalise will be top contenders. Trump has strong relationships with both.

Ryan, a prolific GOP fundraiser and founder of the Young Guns recruitment program, faced a June 1 filing deadline in his home state of Wisconsin, prompting his Wednesday announcement.

An early exit from the race was necessary for his state's Republican Party to find and recruit another candidate to run in Wisconsin's first congressional district who has the ability to win in November.

Two Democrats are vying for the seat that Ryan has held since 1999. They are Randy 'Ironstache' Bryce, a union organizer, and Cathy Myers, a veteran educator.

Ryan's announcement that he would not seek the seat had political prognosticators pulling back on their predictions that his district would remain red.

Cook Political Report moved Wisconsin's 1st from Solid Republican to Lean Republican.

At his news conference on Capitol Hill, Ryan said he could have ran for reelection and then stepped down but that would have went against his 'conscience' and he 'could not handle going out that way.'