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Lewis later said it was time for "new blood" and pledged to campaign on behalf of his top aide, Daniel London, whose wife delivered both Lewis' withdrawal papers and London's candidacy papers moments before the deadline to turn them into the secretary of state's office.
It was a switcheroo that at least one national GOP official described as "shenanigans."
But also waiting in the secretary of state's office at the time was Republican state Sen. Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green, who said he caught wind over the weekend that Lewis might retire -- prompting him to file for the 2nd Congressional District seat.
Guthrie received a nod of implied approval from key national Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.
"I am sorry my friend Ron Lewis chose not to continue his public service." said McConnell's statement. "However, I am delighted to learn that Senator Brett Guthrie has thrown his hat in the ring and I look forward to a spirited race."
Terry Carmack, political director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, called Guthrie an "A-list candidate."
Referring to the filing deadline switch with Lewis and London, Carmack said "Shenanigans like this are rarely rewarded and, in the end, the Republican Party has ended up with an A-list candidate."
Lewis told the Herald-Leader that Guthrie "is a fine young man" but said he hoped McConnell wouldn't weigh into the primary.
"Senator (McConnell) can make choices about what he wants to do, but I would think with his own election, he probably wouldn't want to create any divisions in November," Lewis said.
Lewis and London, in a conference call, denied that they were seeking to give London an advantage with a last-minute switch.
"Like I said, I didn't make the decision until the very end," Lewis said. He said London still tried to talk him out of retiring as late as 3 p.m. when they met in Frankfort.
When asked why London sent his wife to file his papers instead of turning them in himself, he said, "I knew it would turn into a media circus."
The furious deadline action capped off the candidate filing deadline Tuesday afternoon and set up a wide open race in the 2nd Congressional District that features two competitive May 20 primary races.
Earlier Tuesday afternoon, Daviess County Judge Executive Reid Haire jumped into the Democratic primary for the district -- which stretches from Shelby County south to Bowling Green and west to Owensboro. Haire faces fellow Daviess County Democrat, state Sen. David Boswell.
Neither Democrat, however, had expected taking on a Republican other than Lewis in the fall general election.
Haire said he had decided to file because he didn't believe Boswell could "beat the incumbent, Ron Lewis."
Haire cited his knowledge of local government and issues as an advantage over Boswell.
But Boswell, who first forecast his intention to seek the seat last fall, touted his deep political roots in the area after serving as a state representative, agriculture commissioner and state senator for 17 years. He, too, had expected to gun for Lewis.
But Lewis said he made the decision not to run after attending a weekend Republican congressional retreat at the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia. He pointed to confluence of forces -- wanting to spend more time with his wife, looking ahead to his 25-year-old daughter's wedding in May and seeing more colleagues who came in with him in 1994's "Republican revolution" retire.
"I'm part of the old guard. Now it's time for new blood to step in," Lewis said. "We made some good changes. But it kind of ran out of steam."
