Kushner’s Private Meeting With Jeffries Signals White House Strategy Ahead of Midterm Elections

Jared Kushner, an outside adviser to President Donald Trump, held a closed-door meeting with House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in New York in recent weeks, according to reporting first disclosed Sunday by The New York Times. The private conversation between the two New Yorkers suggests the White House is preparing contingency options should Democrats reclaim the House majority in November’s midterm contests.

During the meeting, discussions encompassed multiple policy areas including housing, immigration, and inflation—issues affecting household finances across the country. Democrats have positioned rising costs as a failure of Republican leadership, and the meeting underscores Republican concerns about potential electoral losses that could shift congressional power dynamics.

Kushner proposed that Jeffries, the presumptive House speaker should Democrats win the chamber, coordinate with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in subsequent conversations. In a Sunday statement, Jeffries criticized the Republican administration’s inflexible negotiating posture without specifically referencing his meeting with Kushner, calling for a departure from the GOP’s “my-way-or-the-highway approach.”

The two maintained a productive relationship during Trump’s first administration, collaborating on criminal justice reform legislation that provided sentencing flexibility for drug offenses. Despite Trump’s repeated public attacks on Jeffries and the Democratic leader’s counterattacks, including a racist image Trump posted online, the two have preserved their working relationship across party lines.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally, dismissed the meeting’s significance Sunday on Fox News, characterizing Kushner as someone with divided loyalties who does not directly influence day-to-day White House operations. Neither the White House nor Kushner’s representatives responded to requests for comment about the meeting.

Republicans face considerable pressure to retain House control, with the GOP holding only a narrow majority in a chamber where power could shift in a handful of competitive districts. The Senate remains tightly divided as well, with Democratic operatives citing stronger voter enthusiasm on their side heading into the midterm campaign.