The International Brotherhood of Teamsters will not issue an endorsement in the presidential election for the first time since 1996.
Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said “neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business.”
“We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges,” O’Brien said.
The Teamsters endorsed Biden during the 2020 election, and has consistently supported Democratic presidential nominees in recent election cycle.
The union notably wait to announce its endorsement decision far longer than other unions and labor organizations, including the United Auto Workers, National Education Association, Service Employees International Union and AFL-CIO, which all endorsed Biden, then Harris, after the president dropped out of the race in July.
The Teamsters has endorsed GOP presidential candidates, including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and O’Brien’s flirtation with Trump and Republicans sparked speculation the union could once again break from the pack.
While 44.3 percent of union members polled between April 9 and July 3 backed Biden compared to 36.3 percent for Trump, polling in the wake of the Republican and Democratic Party conventions found the Teamsters members support Trump over Harris.
In a union-commissioned survey conducted by an independent third party between July 24 and Sept. 15, 59.6 percent of Teamsters members voted to endorse Trump, compared to 34 percent for Harris.
In a separate Teamsters-commissioned poll during the week ending Sept. 15, 58 percent of Teamsters members voted to endorse Trump, compared to 31 percent who voted to endorse Harris.
DEVELOPING
Updated at 3:09 p.m.
