Tipsheet

The Teamsters Just Delivered a Body Blow to Kamala

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  September 18, 2024 3:30 PM

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is the last major labor union to issue a 2024 endorsement, and they're not going to endorse for cowardly reasons, which we'll get into in a second. The United Auto Workers union’s front office endorsed Kamala Harris, though even its president, Shawn Fain, admitted that its members would likely vote for Donald Trump. 

Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien did something historic this year: he was the first Teamsters president to address the Republican National Convention. The Democrats ignored his request to speak at their convention, but O’Brien’s speech could be seen as a soft endorsement. With its members voting on who they prefer, is it a shock that the rank-and-file overwhelmingly favors Donald Trump? Maybe that's why the union opted not to endorse:

From April 9-July 3, nearly 300 Teamsters local unions nationwide conducted first-of-their-kind Presidential town halls, soliciting endorsement preferences from members via straw polls. The in-person voting was held prior to Biden’s withdrawal from the race. The Teamsters’ polling data shows members backed Biden 44.3 percent to Trump’s 36.3 percent. 

Following the Republican National Convention and Biden’s campaign exit, the Teamsters commissioned a national electronic poll of its 1.3 million members, overseen by an independent third party. During a voting window from July 24-Sept. 15, rank-and-file Teamsters voted 59.6 percent for the union to endorse Trump, compared to 34 percent for Harris. 

In the past week, following the Democratic National Convention and recent Presidential debate, the Teamsters commissioned independent polling firm Lake Research Partners to conduct the union’s final national survey. In the poll ending Sept. 15, Teamsters selected Trump by 58 percent for endorsement over 31 percent for Harris. 

Kamala Harris was trying to secure this endorsement, but their meeting didn't go well (via NYT): 

Vice President Kamala Harris held a sometimes tense meeting with Teamsters leaders on Monday, defending the Biden administration’s labor policies against pointed questions and concluding with a promise that she would win the presidency and treat the union fairly with or without its backing. 

While Ms. Harris has the endorsement of most of the nation’s unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, whose truck drivers, freight workers and other members are divided in their political allegiances, has held out. Sean O’Brien, the union’s combative president, said after the meeting that he could announce an endorsement — if there was an endorsement — as soon as Wednesday. 

Harris, these folks don’t like you. Kamala is the first Democrat since Michael Dukakis to fail to secure the Teamsters' endorsement. 

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UPDATE: It's official. There will be no endorsement because the union "found no definitive support among members for either party’s nominee." Yeah, sure.

The General Executive Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Wednesday elected not to endorse any candidate for U.S. President.

After reviewing six months of nationwide member polling and wrapping up nearly a year of rank-and-file roundtable interviews with all major candidates for the presidency, the union was left with few commitments on top Teamsters issues from either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris—and found no definitive support among members for either party’s nominee.

In data publicly released earlier in the day, President Joe Biden won the support of Teamsters voting in straw polls at local unions between April-July prior to his exit from the race. But in independent electronic and phone polling from July-September, a majority of voting members twice selected Trump for a possible Teamsters endorsement over Harris.

The union’s extensive member polling showed no majority support for Vice President Harris and no universal support among the membership for President Trump.

“The Teamsters thank all candidates for meeting with members face-to-face during our unprecedented roundtables. Unfortunately, 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,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien.