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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Paul Ryan is not switching parties — but he did say he would skip the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee if former President Donald Trump is the GOP nominee for president.

Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, was speaker of the U.S. House from 2015 to 2019. That included Trump’s first two years as president.

In a Feb. 26, 2023 interview, Matt Smith, a reporter for WISN-TV in Milwaukee, asked: “Come 2024, the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where will you be?”

Ryan: “It depends on who the nominee is. I’ll be here, if it’s somebody not named Trump.”

Smith: “You won’t show if it’s —”

Ryan: “Yeah, I’m not interested in participating in that, no.”

Ryan has said that Trump would lose if he is the nominee and that he would not support Trump if he is nominated, but has not yet chosen another Republican to support.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

WISN: Paul Ryan one-on-one (5:35)

FOX6 News Milwaukee | Wisconsin & Local Milwaukee News WITI: Paul Ryan: If Trump is GOP presidential nominee, ‘we are going to lose’

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Paul Ryan says he would not back Donald Trump, if ex-president is GOP’s 2024 nominee

US House of Representatives: Speakers of the House in Numerical Order

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Tom Kertscher joined as a Wisconsin Watch fact checker in January 2023 and contributes to our collaboration with the The Gigafact Project to fight misinformation online. Kertscher is a former longtime newspaper reporter, including at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who has worked as a self-employed journalist since 2019. His gigs include contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and sports freelancer for The Associated Press.