With midterm elections quickly approaching, Democrats rush to fill the majority in Congress. According to Gallup Poll data, President Donald Trump’s approval rating was as low at 37 percent so far in 2018, proving that much of the country is unhappy with the current commander-in-chief, and subsequently, disappointed in Republicans in Congress.

Unable to fulfill their promise to repeal and replace the Obama Administration’s Affordable Care Act, and as frustrations over NRA contributions to Republicans rise, the conservative voices on Capitol Hill fear for their party’s future. The announcement of the retirement by the Speaker of the House, one of Washington’s most powerful positions, certainly does not help growing political anxiety amongst Republicans.

“It’s like Eisenhower resigning right before D-Day,” Tom Davis, a former Republican congressman from Virginia who once headed the House GOP’s campaign committee, told the Associated Press.

Paul Ryan has been seen as the future of the Republican party, and so for the most powerful Republican in the House to step down from power is not a vote of confidence for conservatives.

There is a long list of Republicans who have already announced their own retirement, but Ryan’s is the most shocking of all.

“Add Ryan’s retirement to the mix,” Lisa Mascaro and Bill Barrow from the Associated Press write, “and donors, lawmakers and strategists are raising red flags about and a prolonged period of uncertainty unlike anything ever seen in modern House history.”

The upcoming election could certainly be one of epic proportions, a mark in political history that will show just how the Trump administration has affected political attitudes and dialogue.

Republicans are searching to fill his place, but that role may not even be available for a Republican when November rolls around.