CLAIM: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, claimed that former President Ronald Reagan was the “last union man” to emerge as a “nationally endorsed candidate.”
RULING: False. Former President Donald Trump was a member of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Entertainers (SAG-AFTRA).
Waltz at a campaign rally in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. spoke “What built the middle class” was the ability to allow people to “collectively bargain and form unions” with their neighbors, Walz said, adding that he was a member of the Minnesota teachers union.
“For decades, I've been told I was a full member of the state teachers union. I was,” Walz told the crowd. “The last union member to be a national candidate, Ronald Reagan. I promise you, I will not lose my way. I will not lose my way.”
Waltz has made similar claims before. In August, he Claimed He was the first union member to run for president since Reagan.
“I'm the first union member to run for president since Ronald Reagan,” Walz said at the time, “but rest assured, I'm not going to get lost.”
This claim is Fact-checked An ABC News investigation found that Trump was a member of SAG-AFTRA until he resigned from the union.
Reagan Provided Trump served “seven terms” as president of SAG-AFTRA and was a member of the union for more than 30 years before stepping down in February 2021.
Trump's departure from the union came after SAG-AFTRA announced it had found “substantial evidence” that Trump had “violated the union's constitution” and threatened to expel him from the union in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
