Speaker Boehner endorses Mitt Romney

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday endorsed Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential nominee, becoming one of the last party leaders to officially recognize the former Massachusetts governor as the GOP standard-bearer.

Boehner is the chairman of the Republican National Convention and had stayed neutral in the primary race, on a weekly basis resisting attempts by reporters to get him to weigh in.

But after Romney’s top remaining rival for the nomination, former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), suspended his campaign last week, Boehner jumped off the fence.

“It’s clear now that Mitt Romney is going to be our nominee,” the Speaker told reporters after a House GOP conference meeting. “I think Mitt Romney has a set of economic policies that can put Americans back to work and contrast sharply with the failed economic policies of President Obama. And I will be proud to support Mitt Romney and do everything I can to help him win.”

Boehner’s top deputies, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) and Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), had previously endorsed Romney.

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