For the first time in nearly thirty years, the Teamsters Union has chosen not to endorse a Democrat for president – but, stopped short of endorsing Donald Trump and dismissed the results of its own member polls.
“The General Executive Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Wednesday elected not to endorse any candidate for U.S. President,” the union announced, making 2024 the first time since 1996 that it did not endorse a Democrat, or any, presidential candidate.
Member polling “found no definitive support among members for either party’s nominee,” the union claims in a press release announcing its decision not to endorse a candidate.
However, in two recent polls of its membership, the union found that its members favor Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Candidate Kamala Harris by more than 25 points.
Members favored Trump 60%-34.0% in an electronic poll conducted August 24-September 15 and by 58%-31% in a September 15 phone poll conducted after both conventions and this month’s presidential debate by the two candidates.
Apparently, Democrat Harris would have needed only a “majority” of members for the union to endorse her – but, Republican Trump would have needed “universal” support in order to gain an endorsement, according to the union’s press release:
“The union’s extensive member polling showed no majority support for Vice President Harris and no universal support among the membership for President Trump.”
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, a lifelong Democrat, refused to give former President Trump any credit Wednesday in an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto discussing the union’s decision not to endorse a candidate.
Instead, he blamed “lots of social issues out of there” for his members’ preferences.
And, despite the results of his own polling, O’Brien claimed that, overall, his union has an equal number of Democrats and Republicans:
“Remember our union is different, we're 50-50, down the middle.”
“We will have some angry members no doubt, but we will have some happy members as well,” O’Brien said, again dismissing members’ strong preference for Trump. “Either way we will take criticism,” O’Brien added.
O’Brien also said that he wasn’t offended that the Democrat National Convention didn’t invite him to speak (“My feelings don’t get hurt easily. They weren’t hurt, because I did not get invited to the DNC”). And, even though a president’s administration has enormous influence on the economy, O’Brien said that endorsing a candidate to run the country is only “a small portion of what our job is in the Teamsters union.”
Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union (International Brotherhood of Teamsters) represents 1.3 million workers in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico.