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
reporter: all of these options are thorny. if they go to another round of balloting, it s not clear i would be surprised if mccarthy were able to peel off the number of people that he needs from this 20 no vote coalition on his side to actually become speaker on this next ballot. what we are hearing is that the mccarthy team could go for a motion to adjourn until tomorrow. you are right, that would buy them time. it would save them another round of embarrassment if he were to lose on this fourth ballot. as i was walking over here, i tried to find some key members of that 20 no vote coalition to ask if they would support that motion to adjourn. right now, democrats have said they will not represent republicans do that. they are whipping against that motion. republicans would have to go it alone. they would not be able to pass that motion to adjourn unless some of these 20 republicans were also on board and supportive of it. i talked, for example, with congressman andy bigg
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
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
the tellers agree that the total number of votes cast is 434 of which the honorable hakeem jeffries of the state of new york has received 212. [ cheers and applause ] the honorable kevin mccarthy of the state of california has received 203. [ cheers and applause ]. the honorable jim jordan of the state of ohio has received 19. no person having received the majority of the whole number of votes cast by surname, a speaker has not been elected. for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana rise? madam clerk, i rise to nominate kevin mccarthy for the position of speaker of the house. the gentleman is recognized. [ applause ] thank you, madam clerk. we all came here to get things done, to get big things done, the solve the problems. and i hope when we get through today that all of the members on both sides of the aisle will join together with us to solve the problems, to address inflation that is crushing middle class families, to get control over spending will