McCarthy loses seventh vote for speaker as he struggles to lock down votes

By Clare Foran, Melanie Zanona and Manu Raju, CNN

(CNN) - Kevin McCarthy came up short once again on Thursday as he lost the seventh House vote to elect a new speaker. The outcome will only increase pressure on McCarthy to end the impasse over his imperiled speakership bid, but it is unclear whether he will be able to pull it off as the situation grows increasingly dire for his future political prospects.

Even after proposing major concessions to his hardline conservative opponents late Wednesday, the California Republican has still not yet been able to lock in the 218 votes he needs to win the gavel. The House on Thursday reconvened with some Republicans, including McCarthy, trying to downplay the significance ahead of the seventh vote.

"Well, I think what you'll see today is the same until we finish everything out," McCarthy said. "Whenever you negotiate different things, nothing's agreed to until everything's agreed to. I wouldn't read anything into votes today."

"We're banking on getting there," McCarthy said when asked if about GOP holdouts voting present.

As the fight drags on, patience is wearing thin among lawmakers. Moderates have also grown increasingly frustrated over the concessions, which many believe may make it harder for the new GOP majority to effectively govern, though they will likely still swallow them.

McCarthy is leery of having additional votes that show 20 members are opposed to him and he wants to demonstrate some forward momentum, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.

McCarthy has been meeting with his allies on Capitol Hill and his opponents met off campus Thursday morning as House Republicans continue to try to chart a path forward.

"I think things are moving in the right direction," Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota said as he left the McCarthy meeting. "Nothing's going to come together quickly, but I think we're clearly making progress."

The longer the fight drags out, the more dire it becomes for McCarthy's future, however, as it risks further defections and a loss of confidence in the GOP leader.

Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, who has supported McCarthy through six ballots, warned of the potential for additional defections on Thursday.

Asked by CNN if he would be with McCarthy on the seventh ballot, Buck said: "If there's a deal and you know, 10 of the 20 move, I think that people stay with him. If there's no deal and we have another vote of 20, I think people are going to start (defecting)." Buck added: "Including me."

"There is a point in time that Kevin is going to lose credibility because he can't make this deal," Buck said.

McCarthy agrees to additional concessions

There are some indications that negotiations have made some headway as McCarthy and his allies attempt to chip away at opposition from a bloc of conservatives.

In a series of new concessions first reported by CNN Wednesday night, McCarthy agreed to propose a rules change that would allow just one member to call for a vote to oust a sitting speaker, according to two sources familiar with the matter. McCarthy had initially proposed a five-member threshold, down from current conference rules that require half of the GOP to call for such a vote.

He also agreed to allow for more members of the Freedom Caucus to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee, which dictates how and whether bills come to the floor, and to vote on a handful of bills that are priorities for the holdouts, including proposing term limits on members and a border security plan.

Republican sources say that even if McCarthy's offers are accepted, it would still not get him the 218 votes he needs to be speaker. While these concessions could attract some new support, other opponents have raised different concerns that have yet to be fully addressed.

McCarthy said Wednesday evening that there was no deal yet to end the stalemate, but that there has been progress. "I think it's probably best that people work through some more," McCarthy said after the House had adjourned.

McCarthy has already made a number of concessions to his opponents, though so far his efforts have not been enough.

But sources said the talks Wednesday between McCarthy allies and holdouts have been the most productive and serious ones to date. And in one sign of a breakthrough, a McCarthy-aligned super PAC agreed to not play in open Republican primaries in safe seats -- one of the big demands that conservatives had asked for but that McCarthy had resisted until this point.

Texas Rep. Chip Roy, one of the conservatives who has voted against McCarthy's speakership bid, told GOP leaders that he thinks he can get 10 holdouts to come along if ongoing negotiations pan out, according to GOP sources familiar with the internal discussions, and that there are additional detractors who may be willing to vote "present."

Still, even if these negotiations prove successful and 10 lawmakers do flip to McCarthy's column -- which is far from certain -- that won't get McCarthy to the 218 votes needed to win the speakership, so he would still have more work to do.

McCarthy also met separately Wednesday with the freshmen members-elect who voted against him, sources told CNN.

During the meeting, McCarthy reiterated some of the things he has already promised and went into greater detail about those concessions.

McCathy's direct outreach to the freshmen-elect offers another window into his strategy for winning over the holdouts.

Incoming House Majority Whip Tom Emmer commented that the negotiations have been "very, very constructive."

"There were a whole bunch of members that were involved in this, and there are some folks now that are sitting down and talking about that discussion to see where they want to go with it next," the Minnesota Republican said.

One moderate Republican told CNN Thursday morning that they aren't happy about the concessions, though they are willing to have "discussions" about them.

The fear is that lowering the threshold for a vote to oust the speaker to one member will make governing on items like the debt limit and funding almost impossible.

"I don't like the rules but am willing to hear discussions. I think they're a mistake for the conference. These handful of folks want a weak speaker with a four-vote majority. The public will not like what they see of the GOP, I fear," the member said.

House in chaos over speaker fight

The fight over the speakership, which began Tuesday on the first day of the 118th Congress, has thrown the new House GOP majority into chaos and undercut the party's agenda.

McCarthy has so far come up short in six rounds of voting. The final GOP tally for the sixth vote, which took place on Wednesday, was 201 for McCarthy, 20 for Florida Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and one "present" vote.

The House will remain paralyzed until this standoff is resolved. This is the first time an election for speaker has gone to multiple ballots since 1923.

To be elected speaker, a candidate needs to win a majority of members who vote for a specific person on the House floor. That amounts to 218 votes if no member skips the vote or votes "present."

House Republicans won 222 seats in the new Congress, so for McCarthy to reach 218, he can only afford to lose four GOP votes.