Teamsters holding off on presidential endorsement, wants Harris meeting first, union president says

The president of one of the country’s biggest labor unions on Sunday said the organization is close to revealing whether he will endorse former President Trump or Vice President Harris ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” where he said the final step before making an endorsement is getting to sit down with Harris to discuss labor issues after President Biden bowed out of the election.

“Under our leadership, we’ve brought every single candidate to the table in front of our rank-and-file members and our general executive board, and we’re waiting on Vice President Harris to commit, to come meet with us,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien said that the Teamsters are a “very, very Democratic union,” but ultimately wants to endorse the best candidate for labor.

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“We want the opportunity to sit down with Vice President Harris,” O’Brien said. “You know, I said to someone the other day, you don’t hire someone unless you give them an interview. This is our opportunity to ask her about Teamsters-specific issues and also labor issues.”

O’Brien said he is waiting for Harris to commit to a meeting with the Teamsters union. Harris’ campaign is reportedly working with the union to set up a time. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Harris’ campaign is working with the Teamsters to set up a meeting, according to CBS.

In January, O’Brien said the union had had a “matter-of-fact” meeting with Trump two weeks before the Iowa caucus, and that the union put their “cards on the table.”

“He claimed he was, you know, 100%, supportive of unions, but historically, obviously, take a look back, and there’s certain issues that we have with him,” O’Brien said at the time.

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In July, O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention, which was well-received by union members, with only 11% disapproving of his appearance after a poll was conducted. He was apparently rebuffed from speaking at the Democratic National Convention a month later.

In January, O’Brien said he had had a “matter-of-fact” meeting with former President Trump. (Emily Elconin/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Despite the Teamsters’ long history with the Democratic Party and the warm reception from the GOP, O’Brien recently announced that there would no longer be any “free rides for anybody.”

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“Both sides come to us asking us for support. And you know if the situation isn’t right for our members, they’re not going to get the free ride that they’ve gotten under our previous administration, or anybody else,” he declared.

Fox business’s Alicia Warren contributed to this report.