September 24, 2024
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has decided to withhold its endorsement in the November presidential election, but that hasn’t stopped its locals from bucking Teamsters leaders and making their voices heard.
And they are all in for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Sean O’Brien, president of the nearly 1.3 million member union, announced Sept. 18 that the Teamsters would not endorse Harris or Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election. Internal union polling showed that a majority of its members backed Trump over Harris, according to numerous news reports. O’Brien turned heads in July when he praised Trump in a speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
But Teamsters members in battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada took matters into their own hands, publicly backing Harris just hours after O’Brien’s announcement.
According to The Washington Post, at least eight regional Teamsters councils with active members in 14 states, and 10 locals have endorsed Harris.
Wispolitics.com lists nine joint Teamsters councils, 11 locals, the Teamsters National Black Caucus and Teamsters Retirees as organizations that have endorsed Harris. They include:
- Teamsters Joint Council 43 in Michigan and Teamsters Joint Council 7 and Joint Council 42—which represent 300,000 members in California, Hawaii, Guam and Nevada;
- Joint Council 40 (Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia) and the Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters—representing more than 120,000 members in western Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey;
- Joint Council 32 and Joint Council 39—representing Teamsters in Wisconsin and the Midwest;
- Local 238, Iowa’s largest Teamsters local;
- and Local 237 in New York City.
The Teamsters’ non-endorsement also drew the ire of former Teamsters President James P. Hoffa, who blasted O’Brien and union leaders Sept. 20for failing to support Harris in the election.
Hoffa, the son of longtime Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa, called the union’s non-endorsement a “critical error” and a “failure of leadership.”
Click HERE for full list of Teamsters councils and locals that have endorsed Harris.