Some Republicans want to replace Paul Ryan as House Speaker before the mid-term election

House Speaker Paul Ryan has "run out of juice" and faces questions about whether he can remain in the job until Election Day, according to a new story in Politico.

The piece headlined "Ryan facing growing doubts about hold on speakership," quotes a "senior Republican lawmaker" who wants a vote on the House speaker to take place soon.

“The conference is in open warfare. Paul has run out of juice,” the lawmaker told Politico. “It became clear on Friday that it’s time to let go.”

The lawmaker was referring to the failure of the House to pass a GOP farm bill on Friday. Ryan also faces pressure from centrist Republicans on immigration, Politico noted.

Ryan announced in April that he would retire from the House after finishing out his term. The Janesville Republican was first elected to the House in 1998.

"No one’s plotting to take him out at this point, and Ryan insists he’s not going anywhere," the Politico piece notes.

"But rank-and-file Republicans, including moderates who’ve been unflinchingly loyal to Ryan during his three-year tenure, have become increasingly willing to defy the lame-duck leader. And White House officials have also discussed whether Ryan should remain in the job, administration sources said, though there is no effort by the Trump White House to push out Ryan."

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But there appears to be some behind the scenes efforts by the administration to remove Ryan and force a vote on speaker before the November election. 

At a Weekly Standard event in Colorado Sunday, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said he had talked with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy about replacing Ryan before he retires. Mulvaney said the move would force Democrats to vote for Nancy Pelosi as their choice for speaker, giving the GOP some valuable ammunition to use in the final weeks before the election.

“I’ve talked with Kevin about this privately but not as much publicly,” Mulvaney said, according to the Weekly Standard.

“Wouldn’t it be great to force a Democrat running in a tight race to have to put up or shut up about voting for Nancy Pelosi eight weeks before an election? That’s a really, really good vote for us to force if we can figure out how to do it.”

At a Tuesday news conference in Washington, Ryan delivered a message of unity for GOP House members, according to a CNN report.

"Obviously I serve at the pleasure of the members -- those are the people who drafted me in this job in the first place," Ryan said. "But I think we all agree the best thing for us is to complete our agenda and not wedge into the middle of our agenda divisive leadership elections."

Appearing with Ryan at the news conference, McCarthy pushed back against Mulvaney's comments.

"I want to be very clear, I read that report. That report is not true," McCarthy said.