Teamsters union skips 2024 presidential endorsement, won't back Harris or Trump

This story was updated to add new information.

WASHINGTON — The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said Wednesday it won't make an endorsement in the 2024 presidential election, choosing not to throw the union's support behind either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump.

The move is a blow to Harris, the Democratic nominee who has touted her union backing on the campaign trail in her push to win the key Rust Belt battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

It marks the first time the Teamsters has skipped an endorsement in a presidential election since 1996, having supported the Democratic nominee in each election that followed.

"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," Sean O'Brien, Teamsters' president, said in a statement following a nearly one-year candidate review process.

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The union's General Executive Board arrived at the decision during a meeting Wednesday in Washington after Teamsters leaders met with Harris on Monday. The union's leaders met with Trump in January.

Teamsters, one of the nation's largest unions, has 1.3 million members including truck drivers, freight workers, airline pilots and zookeepers, among a wide range of other workers.

Teamsters leaders commended Harris' support of the pro-union PRO Act in Congress and her opposition to "right-to-work" laws that undermine unions. Trump, on the other hand, would not commit to vetoing a national "right-to-work" law, the union said in a statement, which it called a "red line for the Teamsters."

But neither candidate in their interviews, according to Teamsters, agreed not to intervene in labor disputes under the Railway Labor Act, which gives Congress the authority to set contracts in the rail and airline industries. To avert a freight rail shutdown in 2022, Congress approved a new contract for rail workers that lacked support of Teamsters' members.

"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.

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Teamsters' rank-and-file members support Trump, polls find

Trump has courted the backing of rank-and-file union members – even if he lacks the endorsement of their unions – as he looks to match the working-class coalition that won him the 2016 election.

Ahead of its announcement, Teamsters released internal polling data of members that found the majority of them back Trump over Harris, even as leaders of other unions have widely backed the vice president.

In a phone survey of Teamsters members taken last week, 58% said they support Trump and 31% said they back Harris. An electronic survey taken over the summer found a similar 60-34% margin in favor of Trump.

When President Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee, a Teamsters straw poll taken in the spring and summer found rank-and-file members backed Biden 44%-37% over Trump, according to the union. However, the straw poll used a different methodology, with members voting in person at Teamsters town halls.

"While the Executive Board of the Teamsters is making no formal endorsement, 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.

Trump, campaigning in New York, told reporters, "It's a great honor. They're not going to endorse the Democrats. That's a big thing."

In response to the Teamsters' decision, Harris campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt pointed to several local Teamsters chapters that have endorsed the vice president – including some that broke with the national union Wednesday.

Teamsters Joint Councils 7 and 42, which includes 300,000 members in California, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam, endorsed Harris shortly after the national union's announcement, as well as Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43 and Teamsters Joint Council 39, which represents all Teamsters in the state of Wisconsin.

"While Donald Trump says striking workers should be fired, Vice President Harris has literally walked the picket line and stood strong with organized labor for her entire career," Hitt said. "The Vice President’s strong union record is why Teamsters locals across the country have already endorsed her - alongside the overwhelming majority of organized labor."

Hitt added: "As the Vice President told the Teamsters on Monday, when she is elected president, she will look out for the Teamsters rank-and-file no matter what – because they always have been and always will be the people she fights for.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the Teamsters' decision "disappointing" in a statement. "Donald Trump refused to support a pension bill for Teamsters. It was Biden-Harris and Democrats who saved Teamsters pensions in the Butch Lewis Act of our American Rescue Plan — without one Republican vote," Pelosi said.

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Teamsters president spoke at RNC convention

Teamsters endorsed Biden over Trump in the 2020 election. But for months, Teamsters leadership held off announcing its 2024 endorsement decision even as nine of the nation's 10 largest unions endorsed Harris, including United Auto Workers, the AFL-CIO and United Steelworkers.

In August, O'Brien became the first Teamsters president to speak at the Republican convention over the union's 121-year history, a move that angered many Democrats.

"Democrats, Republicans, and independents proudly call our union home, and we have a duty to represent and respect every one of them," O'Brien said in a statement. "We strongly encourage all our members to vote in the upcoming election, and to remain engaged in the political process. But this year, no candidate for President has earned the endorsement of the Teamsters’ International Union."

Although Teamsters has typically backed Democratic presidential nominees, the union has endorsed its share of Republicans, including presidents George H.W. Bush in 1988, Ronald Reagan in both 1980 and 1984 and Richard Nixon in 1960 and 1972.

Like 1996 and this year, Teamsters also did not endorse in the 1976 election between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

Contributing: Reuters

Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Teamsters opts not to endorse Harris or Trump in 2024 election