Both President Biden and former President Trump are seeking support from the Teamsters labor union, which has made the candidates nervous.
The Teamsters president has asked to speak at both parties’ national conventions, a spokesman confirmed to The Hill, an unusual move amid tensions over who the influential group will endorse.
The Teamsters’ request has left pro-labor communities perplexed. Many see Biden and the Democrats as the obvious choice given the president’s record in the White House. With less than five months until Election Day, and polls showing a tight race, there are also growing concerns that leaders will back Trump.
“This is going back to the days when the Teamsters supported Nixon,” said one battleground state labor leader.
Sean O’Brien’s request to attend key Democratic and Republican events, first reported by The New York Times, casts doubt on conventional wisdom that major labor unions would ultimately support Biden.
“I don’t think he likes Trump,” the union official said of O’Brien. “In fact, we all believe the competitive model is essential to getting Democrats to do the right thing.”
“If Republicans want help, we welcome it and are willing to build bridges,” the source added.
A Teamsters spokesman said they typically wait until after the convention to make a formal declaration of support.
Still, O’Brien’s desire to address the opposition crowd is notable.
“It’s not often that a union leader is asked to speak at both conventions,” said Bob Bussell, director of the Center for Labor Education and Research at the University of Oregon.
Teamsters officials have said they are interested in working with a variety of candidates in this election. They met with third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West last year, and with Trump in January. The union’s political action group gave $45,000 to the Republican National Committee shortly thereafter, according to Federal Election Commission filings, but the group has also donated heavily to Democrats.
Trump has been trying to undermine Biden’s hard-earned support from labor unions since the two candidates competed for the working man’s vote in 2020.
Meanwhile, Biden met with leaders and Teamsters members in March, but it’s unclear if it got the results he hoped for. O’Brien left the meeting without saying who the union would support, knowing they had time to make a final decision. The Teamsters have long been a Democratic Party ally,SupportedThe last election was Biden versus Trump.
Other unions, including the prominent United Steelworkers and the Construction Trades Union of North America, have already pledged their support for Biden, and many in the community are optimistic about his prospects.
Labor activists and organizers aren’t necessarily expecting Trump to endorse them, but the wait-and-see strategy creates uncertainty.
Polls in battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania show the candidates within the margin of error, and any major developments that affect those districts could lead to even bigger swings.
“I’d be surprised if Trump supported me, but it’s not impossible,” Vassell said. If he did, it would be a “blow” for Biden as he tries to make up for continued shortfalls with other voting blocs.
National union leaders said they have taken steps to inform their members about progress Biden has made during his time in office, including banning and improving non-compete agreements. over time Protections and support for picketing autoworkers: The bipartisan infrastructure bill was supposed to be a big boon for unions.
“Our union’s view is that Joe Biden is the most pro-union president we’ve had in generations, if not ever, and our union fully supports his re-election,” said Sal Rosselli, president emeritus of the United Healthcare Workers of America.
“All of the unions here that we are involved with are fully supportive of Biden and don’t see the need for a ‘both sides’ approach,” Rosselli said when asked about O’Brien’s request to hear from both presidential candidates.
“For example, about 24 percent of our members are Republican, yet there has been no request from our members, or communication from me or from our members, that they should consider supporting Donald Trump,” he said. “In fact, the opposite is true.”
Some say O’Brien may be responding to demands from members.1.3 million workers— to negotiate with both parties, because unions typically don’t have a say in who employers or other members hire, their members may be ideologically diverse, and they may simply be stress-testing the policy agendas of both parties.
Bussell suggested O’Brien was erroneously trying to exercise caution by trying to reach across party lines, but added that Teamsters leaders could be “trying to use this for maximum influence.”
“It feels like a Cold War non-aligned country,” Mr. Bussell said, “trying really hard to get the most out of a strategic position.”
Eddie Baer, a Democratic strategist with longtime ties to the AFL-CIO, argued that many Republicans underestimate the number of union members.
Vail said the party leaders’ attempt at bipartisanship is “an interesting ploy to gauge whether Republicans are serious about reaching out to union members.”
Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz declined to comment on whether Democrats plan to consider a speaking slot for O’Brien, but the campaign is seeking to win over union support by highlighting Biden’s biggest accomplishments.
“There’s only one candidate in this race who will fight for American workers and create good-paying union jobs here in the country, and that’s President Biden,” Munoz told The Hill.
“Donald Trump has spent his whole life fighting for workers’ rights, and now he’s proudly trying to move union jobs overseas, just like he did during his first term. Joe Biden fights for unions and workers across the country every day, and he will continue to work hard to earn the support of the Teamsters.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Polls show both Democratic and Republican voters are interested in union voting. NBC NewsvoteA survey from February showed Biden still leading Trump among union households, but by a smaller margin than in 2020.
“Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania will probably decide the election,” said Steve Rosenthal, a Democratic strategist and president of a consulting firm that works with labor unions.
“All three of these states have a long union history and a huge base,” he added.
Rosenthal suggested that the race is tougher than ever and that both candidates will need to garner more support than they’re offering at this point in the race, making big-name endorsements more coveted as a result.
“The union household vote numbers right now are not at the levels we need to win in these states,” he said. “Union support is really, really valuable right now.”
Waiting to announce the endorsement until the Republicans hold their conventions in Milwaukee in July and the Democrats hold their conventions in Chicago in August means less time to capitalize on their high-profile endorsements. While that schedule isn’t great from the candidates’ perspective, it still leaves time for the Teamsters to go all out for candidates between Labor Day and Election Day, strategists said.
“Biden’s record on union issues is bigger than anyone could have ever imagined,” Rosenthal said. “It’s hard to imagine unions not supporting him.”
