WASHINGTON – Days after saying some Democrats could beat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan clarified his remarks and said Trump would win the election.

"To be clear, GOP wins elections when they’re about ideas not when they’re personality contests like Dems & media want," Ryan said in a tweet on Wednesday. "We’re clearly better off because of @RealDonaldTrump. His record of accomplishment is why he’ll win re-election especially when compared to Dems’ leftward lurch."

On Monday, Ryan said he believed some Democrats could defeat Trump in one of his first public appearances since retiring from Congress.

Ryan, who served as Speaker of the House from 2015 until January and was the 2012 Republican nominee for vice president, focused on policies and touched on the 2020 election during his hour-long lecture in Vero Beach, Fla.

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At the event, Ryan suggested Trump should stick to policies, not his personal brand.

"The person who defines that race is going to win the race. If this is about Donald Trump and his personality, he isn’t going to win it," Ryan said.

Ryan and Trump's relationship was at times contentious. Under Ryan, Congress approved the biggest tax cuts in decades, boosted defense spending and rolled back Obama regulations protecting clean air and water. But its attempt to halt Obama’s health care statute crashed and reforms on health care and entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid failed — which drew ire from Trump.

The president has blamed Ryan for not passing legislation that would have allocated funds for a wall along the southern U.S. border.

In a January interview with the Daily Caller, Trump said that Ryan had promised, "we'll get you the wall."

"Paul told me in the strongest of terms that, 'Please sign this and if you sign this we will get you that wall.' Which is desperately needed by our country. Humanitarian crisis, trafficking, drugs, you know, everything -- people, criminals, gangs, so, you know, we need the wall," Trump said.

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Trump used his executive powers to declare a national emergency last month to allocate millions to construct a border wall, a key campaign promise. The order sparked immediate lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the order.

Contributing: Ali Schmitz, Treasure Coast Newspapers