House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that he would absolutely not be drafted as a presidential candidate.
As businessman Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich vie to win the GOP's nomination, many pundits had speculated that Ryan could have entered the fray during a brokered Republican National Convention in July.
"Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept the nomination for our party," Ryan said.
Speaking to the party delegates, Ryan said he believed they should only choose from someone who has participated in the primary in the case of a brokered convention.
"Count me out: I simply believe that if you want to be the nominee for our party to be the president, you should actually run for it," he said. "I chose not to do this, therefore I should not be considered. Period. End of story."
Ryan, the top elected Republican in Washington and the 2012 vice presidential candidate, spoke at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington.
Ryan has repeatedly said he is not interested in entering the presidential race, but advocates for such a scenario have pointed out that he was cool to becoming House speaker until he was finally persuaded to take over from John Boehner last year.
Responding to a question about that turn of events, Ryan insisted it was "apples and oranges" compared to his current denial of interest in the presidential nomination.
"Being speaker of the House is a far cry from being president of the United States, specifically because I was already in the House — I'm already a congressman," he said. "So completely non sequitur comparison in my book."
Fueling speculation, he has occasionally issued non-committal answers on the question of entering the 2016 race. He refused to categorically rule out a candidacy in a March interview with CNBC.
"You know, I haven't given any thought to this stuff," Ryan said during that interview. "People say, 'What about the contested convention?' I say, well, there are a lot of people running for president. We'll see. Who knows?"
Boehner said in March that he would back Ryan as the GOP nominee if the first convention ballot doesn't elect a party candidate.
Trump leads the field in delegates won, but he has yet to secure the 1,237 needed to secure the nomination outright. The New York businessman had 756 as of Tuesday, according to NBC News.
Here's Ryan's full statement on the 2016 race:
—Reuters contributed to this report.
