Why truckers won't support Trump or Harris

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union representing truck drivers and other workers in the US and Canada, decided not to endorse any candidate for the 2024 Presidential election.

The union is one of the largest in the US, with over one million members. Politico says Teamsters is deeply connected to working-class voters in battleground states and could define race.

The decision was very substantial. It is the first time the labor union has not endorsed a Presidential candidate in almost thirty years, the last time being in 1996.

In a public statement, the union said the reasons behind the move were the lack of consensus among its members and the candidates' lack of commitment to the workers' needs.

It is not the first eyebrow-raising choice that Teamsters president Sean O'Brien made during the election. He was also the first Teamster president to speak at the RNC.

Hours before the announcement, Vice President Harris met with Mr. O'Brien, who said the meeting went well. He interviewed Mr. Trump and President Biden at the end of last year when he was the candidate.

It is fair to say that Ms. Harris did not leave a good enough impression in the meeting: she became the first Democrat to not be endorsed by Teamsters since the 2000s.

According to CBS, Teamsters has only endorsed three Republican candidates: George H.W. Bush in 1988, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, and Richard Nixon in 1972.

In the last election, the union endorsed President Biden, who ran as a pro-union candidate. Mr. Trump has suggested that he supports firing striking workers.

So it was unsurprising that when Mr. Biden was the candidate, early polls among Teamsters members favored him over Mr. Trump by 8 points, 44% to 36%.

However, since Mr. Biden dropped out of the race, the tendency among the union members has changed to favor Mr. Trump. According to CBS, the former president won far more support, 60% to 34%, against Ms. Harris.

Mr. Trump took advantage of those results to say that "it was an honor" that the union did not endorse the Democratic party. He also said they know he is more prevalent among union members.

In response to the announcement, the Harris campaign said, "Vice President Harris has walked the picket line and stood strong with organized labor for her entire career."

According to ABC News, they also pointed out that "Teamsters locals across the country have already endorsed her — alongside the overwhelming majority of organized labor."

CBS News said the Teamsters' National Black Caucus broke with Mr. O'Brien earlier this year and endorsed Ms. Harris. Its head, James Curbeam, was a skeptic of the internal polls.

Richard Hooker, leader of the Philadelphia-based Teamsters Local 623, told Politico he was "frustrated" at the "mind-boggling" non-endorsement.

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