Teamsters decide not to support Harris or Trump in 2024 election

This story has been updated to add new information.

WASHINGTON – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said Wednesday it will not endorse in the 2024 presidential election, deciding against having its union support either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump.

The move is a blow to Harris, the Democratic candidate who campaigned on her support of unions to win the key Rust Belt battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the first time since 1996 that the Teamsters have run without an endorsement in a presidential election.

“Unfortunately, neither of the two major candidates has been able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure that the interests of working people are always put ahead of those of big business,” Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said in a statement after a nearly year-long selection process.

More:“This is how Pennsylvania works”: Insights into the fight between Harris and Trump for the most important battleground in 2024

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International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O'Brien speaks onstage during the first day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The union's General Executive Board made the decision at a meeting in Washington on Wednesday after Teamsters leadership met with Harris on Monday. Union leaders had already met with Trump in January.

The Teamsters, one of the largest unions in the country, has 1.3 million members, including truck drivers, freight workers, pilots and zookeepers, among a variety of other workers.

Teamsters leaders praised 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, will not commit to blocking a national right-to-work law, the union said in a statement, calling it a “red line for the Teamsters.”

But none of the candidates, according to the Teamsters, agreed in their interviews not to intervene in labor disputes under the Railway Labor Act, which gives Congress the authority to enter into collective bargaining agreements in the railroad and airline industries. To avert a freight shutdown in 2022, Congress approved a new collective bargaining agreement for rail workers that was not supported by Teamsters members.

“We have demanded commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in key union campaigns or core Teamsters industries – and to respect our members' right to strike – but we have not been able to achieve those commitments,” O'Brien said.

More:Harris leads Trump in Pennsylvania and two key counties, exclusive poll shows

Polls show that rank-and-file Teamster members support Trump

Trump is courting the support of union members – even though he does not have the support of their unions – and is trying to catch up with the labor coalition that brought him victory in the 2016 election.

Before their announcement, the Teamsters released internal poll results of its members, which showed that the majority of them supported Trump over Harris, even though leaders of other unions overwhelmingly supported the vice president.

In a telephone poll of Teamsters members last week, 58 percent said they would support Trump and 31 percent said they would support Harris. An electronic poll over the summer showed a similar margin of 60 percent to 34 percent in favor of Trump.

When President Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee, a Teamsters test vote conducted in the spring and summer found rank-and-file members supporting Biden 44% to Trump's 37%, the union said. The test vote, however, used a different methodology, with members voting in person at Teamsters town halls.

“Although the Teamsters Board of Directors does not express formal support, the vast majority of rank-and-file workers in this important organization want President Donald Trump back in the White House,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.

Trump, who is campaigning in New York, told reporters: “It's a great honor. They're not going to support the Democrats. This is a big deal.”

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

Teamsters Joint Councils 7 and 42, which represent 300,000 members in California, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam, endorsed Harris shortly after the national union's announcement, as did 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 picket lines and advocated for unions her entire career,” Hitt said. “The Vice President's strong union record is why Teamsters chapters across the country have already endorsed her – alongside the overwhelming majority of unions.”

Hitt added, “As the vice president told the Teamsters on Monday, once she is elected president, she will take care of Teamsters members no matter what – because they have always been and always will be the people she fights for.”

More:Kamala Harris needs Latinos to win these swing states. They say she needs to do more

Teamsters President spoke at RNC Congress

The Teamsters endorsed Biden over Trump in the 2020 election, but Teamsters leadership hesitated for months to announce its decision for 2024, even though nine of the country's 10 largest unions, including the United Auto Workers, AFL-CIO and United Steelworkers, endorsed Harris.

In August, O'Brien became the first Teamsters president in the union's 121-year history to address the Republican National Convention – a move that angered many Democrats.

“Democrats, Republicans and independents are proud to have our union at home, and we have a duty to represent and respect each of them,” O'Brien said in a statement. “We strongly encourage all of our members to vote in the upcoming election and continue to participate in the political process. Yet this year, no presidential candidate has received the endorsement of the Teamsters' International Union.”

Teamsters decide not to support Harris or Trump in 2024 election

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