Scoop: House Dems try to make nice ahead of Trump return

• "Across the board, I think all of us in the Democratic Caucus want to focus on taking back the majority," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

What we're hearing: Members of both the Progressive Caucus and the center-left New Democrat Coalition — which each contain roughly 100 of the 215 House Democrats, with some overlap — confirmed the talks to Axios.

• "Those conversations are starting," a Progressive Caucus member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Axios.
• A New Dems member said the focus is on "finding common ground."

What they're saying: Progressive Caucus chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) told Axios there are "conversations being had about trying to make sure that we're unified and cordial and understanding of everybody."

• After Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) was elected New Dems chair in November, Casar said, "he reached out to me ... about us finding areas of common ground and making sure that we maintain unity across the Dem caucus."
• Schneider told Axios: "We actually had a meeting, and we both said this — we should be talking to each other every day and the best way to avoid unintended circumstances is to communicate with each other."
• "So as long as we're talking and not dropping surprises on the other, I think we'll have a good working relationship," Schneider added.

Zoom in: While Republicans' infighting has generally grabbed the headlines over the last two years, Democrats have grappled with their fair share of internal divisions.

• The Oct. 7 attack and the resulting Israel-Hamas war, in particular, have put House Democrats at odds and resulted in public swiping.

• The party's 2024 election loss has also resulted in a new round of finger-pointing over which ideological flank of the party was to blame.

Zoom in: Separate from these talks, members of both caucuses also described an informal consensus that is emerging around not endorsing primary challengers against incumbent House Democrats.

• Said Jayapal: "We are trying to get to a [Democratic] caucus-wide agreement that we do not weigh in against incumbents and that we focus on open seats."
• Schneider noted the two caucuses "both respected" that practice last cycle and said he "would expect that to continue."

The bottom line: "I think we're all united on ... one purpose, and that's 218 [House seats], the majority," said Schneider.

• "We need to keep the eyes on that. I want to see Hakeem Jeffries as speaker. I want to see Democrats with gavels in their hands."