WASHINGTON — (CNN) House Speaker Paul Ryan congratulated President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday on his victory, saying he will lead “a unified Republican government.”

“Donald Trump heard a voice out in this country that no one else heard,” Ryan said in remarks delivered in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Ryan was frequently one of Trump’s most high-profile critics in the Republican Party and has found himself on tenuous footing as he seeks re-election to lead the House.

But he said Wednesday the results were clear and that Trump “just earned a mandate” from the voters.

More than 70% of voters said the country was headed in the wrong direction, Ryan said, and they picked Trump and the Republicans to alter that course.

“The opportunity is now here, the opportunity is to go big, go bold and do things for the people of this country,” he said.

Ryan and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, another Wisconsinite, played a critical role in cracking the fabled “Blue Wall” that Hillary Clinton in the Rust Belt and subtly played up his own role in helping Trump Wednesday morning.