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
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
now, jake. it s interesting, melanie because mccarthy was trying to make that point yesterday before the voting began, saying that matt gaetz and others were demanding things for themselves. this wasn t about principle. this wasn t about a more open house legislative process, but despite matt gaetz only going to the floor with five total rebels, he ended up with 19. so that argument did not dissuade enough people. reporter: no, and some said that conference meeting with mccarthy made that pitch backfired and made people even more entrenched and i ll tell you among mccarthy s al lice, the allies, they re trying to suss out who is negotiating in good faith and get them to vote present, versus those who are like matt gaetz for example who are never going to vote for kevin mccarthy and keep moving the goal post. that s what they are trying to figure out there, and once they get a better sense of who s in that camp, they can really start to try to negotiate and figure