Paul Ryan’s retirement from Congress, just months before the all-important midterm elections, leaves Republicans with a chronic political migraine.
The House of Representatives Speaker’s exit will deprive the party of a star fundraiser and clean-cut family man who is as at ease schmoozing mega-donors as he is glad-handing on the front porches of the American heartland.
The Wisconsin congressman and one-time vice-presidential candidate said he was leaving to spend more time with his three teenage children.
But many pundits suspect the 48-year-old wunderkind will be unable to resist the opportunity of one day running for a higher office.
After all, some Republicans openly hoped that Mr Ryan would launch a surprise bid for the presidency in 2016 to rid them of Donald Trump.
Mr Ryan is a man in much demand – in 2015, as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, conservative admirers all but drafted him as speaker.
He is said to have found his job frustrating, partly because of President Trump.
But Mr Ryan regards the US tax code overhaul that he shepherded last year through the lower chamber as the capstone of his legislative career.