U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, who has struggled with repeated rebellions from the conservative wing of his Republican Party, plans to resign from the House at the end of October.

Zinke released a statement early Friday morning after Boehner shocked colleagues by announcing he would resign his post and congressional seat next month.

It is the full House that elects a new speaker.

“I think everybody said ‘OK, it’s time to move forward, ‘” the congressman from Fowler continued.

Dole said Boehner had been plagued by, in his words, a group of Republican naysayers.

The resignation ends a almost five-year reign as the top Republican in the House.

“I take [the resignation] to mean Boehner is going to introduce a short-term funding bill, pass it with Democratic support, and then resign”, political strategist Andy Friedman of the Washington Update told ThinkAdvisor on Friday. But it’s also been defined by his struggles with tea party conservatives who opposed his tendencies toward deal-making.

“His story exemplifies the American Dream, and I enjoyed working with him during my short time in Congress”, he said in a statement. “It is hard to find a person in Washington who cared more for the future of America’s children than Speaker Boehner”.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, another Chicago Democrat, praised Boehner for resisting more extreme Republican views, saying it couldn’t have been easy to be a decent man at the head of what he feels is becoming a party of anti-immigrant policies and intolerance. “I stand ready to work with the new Speaker, along with anyone from either side of the aisle, to solve the critical problems facing our nation”.

He rebounded in 2006, winning an upset victory to.become the House Majority Leader after Tom Delay, R-Texas, resigned in the midst of a corruption scandal.

He also said he doesn’t doubt that he could have retained his spot as Speaker, but added that it is not healthy for “the institution” to have the battle. “I think this is a great opportunity to set us up not just in the House, not just dealing with President Obama, but how do we want to race in 2016″.

Boehner’s decision removes the possibility of a damaging vote to strip him of his speakership, a scenario that grew more likely amid the conservative clamor over a shutdown. “I wish John all the best in this next chapter of life”, said U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette.