The Teamsters union, which represents more than 1 million members, will not endorse any candidate in the 2024 presidential election, even though polls have shown a majority of its members support former President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The Teamsters thanks all of the candidates who met face-to-face with our members during this unprecedented roundtable discussion,” Teamsters Chairman Sean O'Brien said. said In a statement:
Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to seriously promise our unions that workers’ interests would always come before big business. We asked both Trump and Harris for commitments to not interfere in vital union causes and the Teamsters' core industries, and to respect our members' right to strike, but failed to secure those commitments. [Emphasis added]
On Wednesday, the union released a poll of Teamsters members showing about 60% support Trump and just 34% back Harris. In the last town hall poll, conducted between April and July before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, 44% of members said they supported Biden and 36% supported Trump.
Teamsters officials said the poll showed “no majority support for Vice President Harris, nor did it show overall support for President Trump among our membership.”
“Data released the same day showed that President Joe Biden won the Teamsters' support in primary votes held in local unions between April and July before dropping out of the race,” Teamsters officials wrote in a press release. “However, in independent electronic and telephone votes from July through September, a majority of voting members twice chose Trump over Harris as the Teamsters' preferred candidate.”
The announcement is particularly damaging to Ms Harris, who ran for president in 2020 as the Teamsters union. Approved Biden and Harris are fighting for Trump's reelection.
Harris reportedly ignored O'Brien after he delivered a historic speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in which he pledged to work with Republican lawmakers, including Trump, on issues facing the nation's workforce.
“President Trump has the courage to open the door to the Republican National Convention, which is unprecedented. No other candidate in this race would have invited the Teamsters to this venue,” O'Brien said at the time.
Following his speech at the Republican National Convention, Harris did not invite O'Brien to speak at the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. here.
