Teamsters withhold endorsement as ballot reveals members favour Donald Trump

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The Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters has determined to not endorse a candidate in November’s US presidential election, signalling {that a} as soon as essential a part of the Democrats’ help could also be shifting in the direction of Donald Trump.

The highly effective union introduced its sudden determination after reporting {that a} telephone ballot had discovered that 58 per cent of its members wished it to endorse the Republican former president — nearly twice the quantity favouring vice-president Kamala Harris. It was unclear what share of the union’s 1.3mn members, which embody UPS drivers, railroad employees and nurses, have been polled.

“Sadly, neither main candidate was capable of make critical commitments to our union to make sure the pursuits of working persons are all the time put earlier than Massive Enterprise,” union president Sean O’Brien mentioned in an announcement. “We sought commitments from each Trump and Harris to not intervene in vital union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honour our members’ proper to strike — however have been unable to safe these pledges.”

Different main unions, together with the United Auto Employees, United Steelworkers and American Federation of Lecturers, endorsed Harris quickly after she launched her marketing campaign. In contrast, Teamsters leaders opted for an uncommon collection of roundtable-style conferences with candidates and inner polls, saying the method would make the group’s political actions extra democratic. 

It’s the first time that the union has not made an endorsement in 28 years. The Teamsters endorsed Joe Biden and Harris in 2020 and final supported a Republican in 1988.

The choice got here simply two days after Harris held a closed-door assembly with the union’s management in Washington. Trump had met Teamsters leaders earlier in hopes of touchdown a high-profile endorsement that may win over extra union members, who’re closely concentrated within the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The Teamsters’ determination comes amid considerations amongst Democrats and different labour leaders in regards to the inroads Trump has made with working-class voters.

Union leaders broadly see Trump as an enemy of the labour motion, however polls present that their rank-and-file members are extra open to the previous president than they have been in 2020, when NBC’s exit polling confirmed they favoured Biden over Trump by 16 proportion factors.

The most recent Monetary Instances-College of Michigan Ross Faculty of Enterprise poll discovered 45 per cent of registered voters mentioned Harris higher represented union members’ pursuits, in contrast with 35 per cent who mentioned Trump did.

The Teamsters’ inner endorsement course of divided the union, with some members additionally criticising O’Brien’s determination to talk on the Republican Nationwide Conference in July, meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property and make the union’s first massive donation to Republicans in 20 years.

John Palmer, the Teamsters’ worldwide vice-president, mentioned its normal government board overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to not endorse, at O’Brien’s suggestion. Palmer mentioned solely he and two different board members voted in favour of the vice-president.

“It was a cowardly political transfer by individuals who wished to pander to the membership as an alternative of taking on what would have been successful by telling the reality,” mentioned Palmer, referencing Trump’s historical past of animosity with labour unions.

Wednesday’s announcement amounted to a “tacit endorsement” of Trump, mentioned Palmer, who’s difficult O’Brien within the union’s 2026 management election.

The Trump marketing campaign claimed a victory, with Karoline Leavitt, its nationwide press secretary, saying: “Whereas the Teamsters government board is making no formal endorsement, the hardworking members of the Teamsters have been loud and clear — they need President Trump again within the White Home!”

Requested for his response, Trump advised reporters at a marketing campaign occasion: “It’s an ideal honour, they’re not going to endorse the Democrats, that’s a giant factor . . . Democrats robotically had the Teamsters.”

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Harris marketing campaign, mentioned the vice-president had “actually walked the picket line and stood sturdy with organised labour for her whole profession”.

“The vice-president’s sturdy union file is why Teamsters locals throughout the nation have already endorsed her — alongside the overwhelming majority of organised labour,” Hitt added.

The White Home declined to touch upon whether or not the Teamsters’ polling was a referendum on the administration, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying solely that Biden and Harris had “fought onerous for unions”.

The union’s Nationwide Black Caucus endorsed Harris in August, calling her “a key associate in main probably the most pro-labour administration in our lifetimes” whereas denouncing Trump as “a scab masquerading as a pro-union advocate”.