sans speaker. kevin mccarthy failing again on a fifth ballot to capture the necessary number of votes, the number of opponents among house republicans has actually gone up from 19 to 20, to 21. now republicans are looking for a way out, an exit strategy. is that tossing mccarthy to the curb? is that brokering a deal with democrats to lower the vote? they have to get these 23 rebels on board. me melanie zanona is with us. what s happening here? reporter: republicans are searching for an offramp as it s become clear that kevin mccarthy s efforts to win over his opposition not working. i m told republicans have approached democrats on the house floor and tried to feel them out to see, what would it take for you to vote present or not show up? we re told these are informal conver conversations. it s still early. democrats said they would not bail out mccarthy, but they would be willing to talk about a consensus candidate. we ll see. the fact that republicans are even thinking a
needed to be the speaker for a fourth consecutive time. florida republican byron donalds appear to have received just enough support to prevent kevin mccarthy from getting to 218. so what happens now? the house remaining paralyzed this hour. no committees, no legislation, elected members can t even be sworn in. they don t even know if they are getting paid at this point after they have tried and failed again four times to elect a speaker. it s a level of dysfunction unseen in modern political history. so let s bring in an incredible panel. senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. yamiche alcindor is our washington correspondent. doug high is a republican strategist for the rnc. peter baker is chief white house correspondent for the new york times and an msnbc political analyst. steve kornacki is at the big board. garrett, tell us what s happening this second and what should we make of it? we re watching kevin mccarthy on his way going 0 for 4. byron donalds, the l
not been the charm for kevin mccarthy. you see the tally on the screen. we are waiting any minute for this vote to officially be closed, and then the question is what happens next? do they try for time number six? where unless something has dramatically changed and we don t think it has, mccarthy will probably lose again. do they try to take a break? what are the concessions that are happening behind the scenes? we have the best team in the biz, here to answer the questions to the best of their abilities including capitol hill correspondent ali vitali and political director and moderator of meet the press, chuck todd, nbc news colleague, and steve kornacki is posted at the big board and former chief communications adviser to former speaker paul ryan and msnbc political analyst brendan buck is with us, too. if you re looking at this saying, okay, i ve been watching this coverage for six hours. what has changed? what is different? what is going to change the moment? here is w
buck? buck? bucshon? mccarthy. budzinski? jeffries. burchett? mccarthy. burgess? mccarthy. burlison? mccarthy. bush? jeffries. calvert? mccarthy. caraveo? jeffries. carbajal? jeffries. mccarthy. carl? mccarthy. carson? jeffries. carter of georgia? mccarthy. carter of louisiana? jeffries. carter of texas? mccarthy. casar? jeffries. case? jeffries. casten? jeffries. castor of florida? jeffries. castro of cicilline? jeffries. ciscomani? mccarthy. clark of massachusetts? jeffries. clarke of new mccarthy. comer? mccarthy. connolly? so we are waiting for the vote for michael cloud because potentially if he did decide not to vote for kevin mccarthy, that would have put them over the threshold but now we are waiting for andrew clyde. we have the fifth ballot for speaker and the fifth ballot that seems to be moving in the same direction as the first four? exactly. it was 21 on the last ballot. 21 republicans who did not vote for mccarthy. 20 voted for donalds. one voted present. a
scott desjardins, because he is not negotiating and they are having an amicable conversation, and he is not negotiating, and so maybe he has to change the posture, but jim jordan is about to speak, and the expectation is to signal the supporters to support kevin mccarthy, and he is a close ally of mccarthy, and they have developed a close tie over the years, and this is a key source of the alliance between jordan and mccarthy. will jordan say, come vote and tell his six supporters to vote for mccarthy potentially, yes. will that change the math, no. this is still some paperwork is being done, and once that vote is being officially closed, and they will move on to the second vote, and the clerk of the house is about to make an announcement, and we will have the second vote to take place, and the conservatives is going to announce a potentially second nominee, and we will see if that is going to play out, but kevin mccarthy is certainly to fall short, and not expecting to step