Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says he's hopeful about building a relationship with Kevin McCarthy: 'We can agree to disagree without being disagreeable'

• House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries says he can have a better relationship with McCarthy than Pelosi.
• Kevin McCarthy was elected House Speaker early Saturday after five days of voting.

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says he's hopeful he can build a relationship with newly-elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to have a "functional government."

On Sunday, NBC News's "Meet the Press," host Chuck Todd asked Jeffries: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't have a great relationship with Rep. Kevin McCarthy. What's yours?"

"Kevin McCarthy and I have had some positive, forward-looking conversations over the last few weeks. And I'm hopeful that we'll be able to build upon those conversations to do the right thing for the American people," Jeffries said during the interview.

"Clearly we are going to have strong disagreements at times but we can agree to disagree without being disagreeable," he added.

—Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 8, 2023

Jefferies said he's looking forward to building upon the "Biden agenda" and accomplishments to "move the country forward" and if McCarthy "is willing to find common ground in that regard they will find willing partners amongst House Democrats."

Former Speaker of the House Pelosi and McCarthy have publically taken jabs at each other during their time in the House. Insider previously reported that Pelosi called McCarthy a "moron" in July 2021, after he criticized a mask mandate for Congress. At a Republican fundraising event a few days later, McCarthy joked that it would be "hard not to hit" Pelosi with the speaker's gavel if he became speaker.

Correction: January 8, 2023 — A previous version of this report misstated Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said he would have a better relationship with Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy than former Speaker Nancy Pelosi did.