The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has declined to endorse a presidential candidate for the first time since it endorsed neither Bill Clinton nor Bob Dole in 1996. The union has endorsed Democratic candidates in recent years, including President Biden in 2020, the Hill reports, but it has backed Republicans in the past, most recently George HW Bush in 1988. In a statement, Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said neither candidate this time around "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 1.3 million-member union represents workers including freight drivers and warehouse workers. In an electronic poll of members released Wednesday, almost 60% supported Trump and 34% supported Harris. "The vast majority of rank-and-file working men and women in this important organization want President Donald Trump back in the White House," the Trump campaign said in a statement, per CNN.
Harris met with O'Brien on Monday, CNN reports. The union president spoke at the Republican National Convention this year but did not appear at the Democratic convention. The AP notes that other major unions tend to endorse candidates much earlier than the Teamsters, including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, and the United Auto Workers, which have all endorsed Harris. Before 1996, the only time the Teamsters declined to endorse a candidate was in 1960, when Richard Nixon was running against John F. Kennedy. (More Teamsters stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
