The Teamsters union says it will not endorse Harris or Trump in the US election 2024 US Election News
The influential union has endorsed every Democratic presidential candidate since 2000, but is refusing to endorse this year.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the largest labor unions in the United States, says it will not endorse any candidate for the US presidential election.
In a statement Wednesday, the 1.3 million-strong union said it would not nominate Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris or former Republican President Donald Trump.
“The Teamsters thank all the candidates for meeting face-to-face with members during our unprecedented gathering,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, no big man has been able to commit to our organization to ensure that the interests of working people are always put before Big Business.”
The move breaks with decades of precedent: The Teamsters have endorsed a Democratic candidate in every election since 2000, and the union has not refused to endorse a candidate since 1996.
It also comes as both the Democratic and Republican parties have been calling for organized labor ahead of the November 5 election, which is expected to be a battle between Trump and Harris.
PARTIES RELEASING PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL POLL DATA
“This past year, the Teamsters Union has pledged to conduct the most inclusive, democratic and transparent Presidential nomination process in our 121-year-old union history—and today we are introducing… pic.twitter.com/CnFNN9uosx
– Teamsters (@Teamsters) September 18, 2024
The Teamsters said a poll of its members showed a preference for Trump over Harris by more than 25 percent, but there was no “overwhelming support” for either candidate.
Trump’s campaign said the polls show a “majority” of members of the party support the former president and want to see him return to the White House.
In a statement sent to American media, Harris’s spokesman said the Democrat has won the support of Teamsters across the US, as well as other labor unions.
“While Donald Trump has said striking workers should be fired, Vice President Harris has walked the line and stood firm for organized labor throughout his career,” said Lauren Hitt.
“The Vice President’s strong union record is why Teamsters locals across the country have already approved — along with a large number of organized workers.”
Labor unions have long been a constituency of the Democratic Party in the US, and opposition to the Republicans was met with skepticism as the party has historically taken a hard line on workers’ rights.
Most of America’s major unions, such as the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), have expressed their support for Harris ahead of the upcoming election.
O’Brien – the president of the Teamsters – was an exception to that trend, speaking at the Republican National Convention in July.
That decision drew mixed reactions from US labor experts, who were divided on whether it was a smart move to take a pro-labor message to a wider audience or a bad one, given the GOP’s general hostility to the agency.
The Teamsters also tried to get a chance to speak at the Democratic National Convention in August, but said they were denied.
While the Teamsters have endorsed Democrats for the past two decades, the group has sometimes supported Republican presidential candidates, including Ronald Reagan in 1984.
