Paul Ryan tries to deflate desperate GOP effort to draft him as Trump-stopping nominee

Paul Ryan will not be drafted into the 2016 presidential race

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 8 March 2016

On Thursday, right before the GOP's raucous presidential debate in Detroit, a super PAC called the Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, making it the latest Republican effort to stop Donald Trump from getting the nomination. On Monday, the group's honorary chairman, Earle Mack, sent out an email asking Republican voters to join him and his fellow #NeverTrump backers to pull House Speaker Paul Ryan into the race. "The presidential race has descended into little more than a schoolyard scuffle with poll after poll showing Donald Trump losing to Hillary Clinton in the general election," said Mack, who has already reportedly put $1 million of his own money into the effort.

Among the Republicans who don't support the Draft Ryan effort is Ryan, the 2012 GOP vice presidential candidate. On Friday, Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said the House speaker is "flattered, but not interested." And on Monday, a Ryan representative pointed to a letter one of Ryan's lawyers had sent to the FEC to act as "a formal disavowal of the organization and its activity." Ryan is not involved with the super PAC "in any way," the letter said, and "it is the speaker's sincere hope that donors and supporters are not confused by, or misled into supporting, this organization."

Below, you can watch Mack, undeterred, explain to CNN's Don Lemon why he's pushing to get Ryan into the race anyway. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.