Teamsters withhold endorsement as poll shows members favour Donald Trump

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The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has decided not to endorse a candidate in November’s US presidential election, signalling that a once crucial part of the Democrats’ support may be shifting towards Donald Trump.

The powerful union announced its unexpected decision after reporting that a phone poll had found that 58 per cent of its members wanted it to endorse the Republican former president — almost twice the number favouring vice-president Kamala Harris. It was unclear what share of the union’s 1.3mn members, which include UPS drivers, railroad workers and nurses, were polled.

“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,” union president Sean O’Brien said in a statement. “We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honour our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges.”

Other major unions, including the United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers and American Federation of Teachers, endorsed Harris soon after she launched her campaign. By contrast, Teamsters leaders opted for an unusual series of roundtable-style meetings with candidates and internal polls, saying the process would make the group’s political activities more democratic. 

It is the first time that the union has not made an endorsement in 28 years. The Teamsters endorsed Joe Biden and Harris in 2020 and last supported a Republican in 1988.

The decision came just two days after Harris held a closed-door meeting with the union’s leadership in Washington. Trump had met Teamsters leaders earlier in hopes of landing a high-profile endorsement that might win over more union members, who are heavily concentrated in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The Teamsters’ decision comes amid concerns among Democrats and other labour leaders about the inroads Trump has made with working-class voters.

Union leaders widely see Trump as an enemy of the labour movement, but polls show that their rank-and-file members are more open to the former president than they were in 2020, when NBC’s exit polling showed they favoured Biden over Trump by 16 percentage points.

The latest Financial Times-University of Michigan Ross School of Business poll found 45 per cent of registered voters said Harris better represented union members’ interests, compared with 35 per cent who said Trump did.

The Teamsters’ internal endorsement process divided the union, with some members also criticising O’Brien’s decision to speak at the Republican National Convention in July, meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate and make the union’s first big donation to Republicans in two decades.

John Palmer, the Teamsters’ international vice-president, said its general executive board overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday not to endorse, at O’Brien’s suggestion. Palmer said only he and two other board members voted in favour of the vice-president.

“It was a cowardly political move by people who wanted to pander to the membership instead of taking up what would have been a hit by telling the truth,” said Palmer, referencing Trump’s history of animosity with labour unions.

Wednesday’s announcement amounted to a “tacit endorsement” of Trump, said Palmer, who is challenging O’Brien in the union’s 2026 leadership election.

The Trump campaign claimed a victory, with Karoline Leavitt, its national press secretary, saying: “While the Teamsters executive board is making no formal endorsement, the hardworking members of the Teamsters have been loud and clear — they want President Trump back in the White House!”

Asked for his reaction, Trump told reporters at a campaign event: “It’s a great honour, they’re not going to endorse the Democrats, that’s a big thing . . . Democrats automatically had the Teamsters.”

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said the vice-president had “literally walked the picket line and stood strong with organised labour for her entire career”.

“The vice-president’s strong union record is why Teamsters locals across the country have already endorsed her — alongside the overwhelming majority of organised labour,” Hitt added.

The White House declined to comment on whether the Teamsters’ polling was a referendum on the administration, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying only that Biden and Harris had “fought hard for unions”.

The union’s National Black Caucus endorsed Harris in August, calling her “a key partner in leading the most pro-labour administration in our lifetimes” while denouncing Trump as “a scab masquerading as a pro-union advocate”.