Paul Ryan raised $44 million in 2017, including nearly $5 million in the final quarter

House Speaker Paul Ryan set a blistering fundraising pace in 2017, raising $44.7 million for the year, his campaign said Thursday.

Ryan's joint fundraising committee, Team Ryan, transferred more than $32 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee to aid House Republicans.

In the fourth quarter, Team Ryan raised nearly $5 million.

The Janesville Republican hasn't formally announced whether he'll run for another term representing the 1st Congressional district.

Ryan's re-election campaign announced it had nearly $10 million on hand at the end of 2017.

Of the $1.4 million raised by the campaign in the fourth quarter, more than $270,000 was raised directly in Ryan for Congress. The rest came from transfers from the speaker's joint fundraising committee.

Randy Bryce and Cathy Myers are seeking to gain the Democratic nomination to face Ryan in the fall.

Kevin Seifert, executive director of Team Ryan, said the "eye-popping number" raised last year "is a testament to Speaker Ryan, House Republicans, and the agenda that they led the fight on in 2017."

Seifert added: "We plan to build off of this historic report, and Speaker Ryan will continue his aggressive fundraising and campaign schedule in 2018."

Last year, Ryan also raised $4.75 million directly for his GOP colleagues' campaign accounts.