Teamsters Decline to Endorse Any Presidential Candidate for First Time In Decades

For the first time since 1996, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is declining to make a U.S. presidential candidate endorsement.

The 1.3 million-strong union announced the long-awaited decision from its general executive board on Wednesday. Alleging that both Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris had failed to make “serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business,” IBT general president Sean O’Brien said in a statement that in 2024 “no candidate for President has earned the endorsement” of his union.

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Specially, O’Brien added, the candidates did not pledge to avoid intervening in Teamsters-represented industries and in Teamsters campaigns. (In 2022, Congress stepped in during contract negotiations to prevent a national railroad strike and “tens of thousands of railroad Teamsters were forced to accept a new contract implemented by Congress without member support,” the union argued.) The general president also said that the candidates did not promise to “honor our members’ right to strike.”

The union unveiled its decision after revealing results from internal membership polling that found that while President Joe Biden was still in the U.S. presidential race, union members largely supported his candidacy (44.3 percent) over Trump’s (36.3 percent). When Harris ascended as the Democratic candidate, electronic polls found Trump gaining the majority (59.6 percent) over Harris (34 percent). Straw polls yielded similar results, with Trump securing 58 percent support over Harris’ 31 percent.

This year’s decision ends a streak of Teamsters endorsements of Democratic presidential candidates that began with the 2000 election.

O’Brien, who was elected as IBT general president in 2021, beating out longtime president James P. Hoffa, was clear from the outset of this year’s election that he wanted to do things differently this time around. Stoking controversy among some in his union, O’Brien met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate and at the Teamsters’ Washington, D.C. headquarters this year and became the first Teamsters president to speak at the Republican National Convention. A Democratic National Convention invitation was subsequently not extended, he has said, though Harris met with leaders of the union on Monday in an attempt to win their support.

Harris has won the endorsements of many other prominent American labor groups, including the United Auto Workers, the American Federation of Teachers, United Food and Commercial Workers International and the United Steelworkers. Entertainment unions such as Actors’ Equity Association, the Writers Guild of America West and the American Federation of Musicians have followed suit. Trump, meanwhile, has gained the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police and other police groups.

On Wednesday afternoon, not long after the international union’s announcement, two joint councils representing hundreds of thousands of union members in California, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam and the California Public Affairs Council announced their endorsement of Harris. The group joined a handful of Teamsters Locals that have previously responded by breaking away from the international’s stance and endorsing Harris.

One of the joint councils involved, No. 42, includes Local 399, which represents drivers, casting directors, location professionals and other workers in the entertainment industry. Local 399 principal officer Lindsay Dougherty sits on Joint Council 42’s executive board as a trustee.

“The 250,000 Teamsters who work across California are fundamental to the American economy, not only producing and transporting goods, but also providing essential services throughout the private and public sectors,” Joint Council 42 president Chris Griswold stated. “They deserve an administration that will put working people first.”

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