By Nick gale, WLS News

(CHICAGO) An Illinois congressman thought to be in play to move up the ranks in Congress now says he won’t throw his hat in the ring.

Republican Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton), once the chief deputy whip, says he will stay out of the leadership scramble following the announced resignation of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). In an e-mail to House GOP colleagues, Roskam says he won’t seek any leadership positions.

On Boehner, Roskam tells John Howell on WLS, “the challenge is that sometimes he was perceived as figuring we we’re going to lose and reverse engineering a loss from there and I think that is, that is out of sync actually from where the majority of the American public is,” Roskam said  “The American public wants us to fight for these core values and they want to see a fight.”

Listen to the podcast of “Big” John’s conversation with Rep. Roskam here.

On a replacement for Boehner, Roskam says his fellow House Republicans need a plan, not just a person.

@ 2015 WLS News