House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and outside adviser, met privately recently in New York — a signal that the White House is exploring ways to work with Democrats should they wrest majority control from Republicans in November's midterm elections.

The meeting, first reported Sunday by The New York Times, covered issues ranging from housing and immigration to the high cost of living. People in the United States are struggling under inflationary prices that Democrats blame on Republicans — and on Trump — for failing to bring under control.

Kushner suggested that Jeffries, who is in line to become House speaker if Democrats regain power in November, follow up by meeting with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who co-managed Trump's 2024 campaign before taking the top West Wing job.

Jeffries, in a statement Sunday, did not mention the private conversation but said the Republican administration needed to drop the GOP's “my-way-or-the-highway” approach, which “has failed the American people.”

“To stop the madness, we have repeatedly made clear that an extremist approach will not work and will be met with forceful opposition,” the New York congressman said. “The question is whether Republicans will join us.”

The sit-down underscores the depth of Republican Party angst over losing its congressional majority — particularly in the House — and the need to make inroads with the opposing party as the White House seeks to stem any potential political fallout for the president. If Democrats retake power, the White House can expect an aggressive oversight agenda into what Jeffries has called the “crooks” in the administration, with the threat of impeachment among the many tools at the party's disposal. Trump was impeached twice — and acquitted twice by the Senate — during his first term, and conviction would require a two-thirds Senate vote, a threshold no president in U.S. history has met.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a close Trump ally, bristled Sunday when asked about the meeting and minimized the role Kushner plays in the White House, saying the president's son-in-law “hedges his bets.”

“I'm telling you what, you better not bet against the House Republicans,” Johnson, R-La., told Fox News Channel's “The Sunday Briefing.” “I don't know what that's about. I know Jared has interests in lots of other things going on. He's not really directly involved in the admin, at least in the day-to-day in the White House.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Kushner also did not respond.

A Prior Relationship

Jeffries and Kushner are not strangers. The two New Yorkers allied during the first Trump administration on the First Step Act, landmark 2018 legislation to allow sentencing flexibility for certain drug offenses as a way to curtail lengthy terms in the federal prison system. The bipartisan bill passed with broad majorities and was signed into law by Trump in December 2018. While not necessarily close, the two have maintained a relationship despite the repeated attacks Trump has leveled against Jeffries and the Democratic leader's responses.

In Trump's second term, Kushner has taken on an outsize role despite having no formal position in the White House. He also runs Affinity Partners, the Miami-based investment firm he founded after leaving government in 2021. He serves as an outside adviser and envoy, particularly shuttling on foreign diplomatic missions as the U.S. war against Iran drags into its sixth month.

A Fraught History With Trump

Trump has met with Jeffries only once since the president returned to the White House, taunting the House leader and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York with red “Make America Great Again” 2028 caps placed on the desk in front of them in the Oval Office — a nod to Trump's toying with an unconstitutional third term in office.

After that fall meeting, Trump posted a fake image of Schumer with Jeffries wearing a sombrero and a handlebar mustache — an image widely viewed as a racist trope — as he mocked the Democrats ahead of what became the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.

Trump has been able alternately to ignore Congress, relying on the sheer force of executive power to implement his priorities, or to pressure Republicans in the House and Senate to fall in line behind the White House when needed, particularly to confirm controversial Cabinet nominees. All of that is likely to change if Democrats control either chamber, with lawmakers eager for Congress to flex its own power as a coequal branch of government more willing to hold the White House in check.

The Midterm Landscape

House Republicans are counting on Trump's popularity among their core voters as they struggle to hold onto majority control, with Johnson believing the GOP will defy the history that tends to reward challengers in midterms and punish the party in power. The president's party has lost House seats in nearly every midterm since World War II; 1998 and 2002 are the rare exceptions.

The House GOP holds a slim majority, and control will likely be won — or lost — in a handful of battleground districts as Democrats put forward candidates in what they hope will be something of a repeat of 2018, when they swept to power riding a wave of voter unrest during Trump's first term. All 435 House seats are on the ballot in November, along with roughly a third of the Senate.

While the House is most at risk for Republicans this year, the narrowly split Senate is also increasingly in play. GOP strategists worry about an enthusiasm gap on their side as Democrats appear more eager to head to the polls. At the same time, Democrats are nominating outsider candidates — some aligned with socialist agendas over establishment-backed candidates — in a sign of voter unrest with the status quo.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.