“I think the message to donors is pretty unmistakable,” says Josh Holmes, a Republican strategist and former longtime aide to McConnell. “I know that is not the speaker’s intention, and I know that he’s going to do everything he can do to ensure [candidates] have all the resources necessary. But I think increasingly in the last several weeks you’ve seen a migration towards the Senate and I think this doesn’t do anything to stop that.”

“His timing now is going to be interpreted as an acknowledgment that the House is lost,” Dan Eberhart, a top GOP fundraiser, told NBC News. “Donors are going to naturally shift their focus to the Senate.”

Ed Rollins, a veteran Republican operative who chairs a pro-Trump super PAC involved in congressional races, says Ryan could alleviate some of the concerns from donors and candidates by resigning from the speakership immediately. Holding on to the post through the midterms only ensures a long, competitive and distracting leadership race at a time when the party should be singularly focused on protecting the majority, and begs donors to ask, “‘Who do you give to? A lame duck leadership fund? Or would you rather bet on the Senate and get in the good graces of Senate leadership?” Rollins says.