By Trevor Hunnicutt and Garrett Renshaw
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden is on the verge of failing to win a key union endorsement as leaders of the 1.3 million-member Truck Drivers Association consider not backing any candidate at all in the U.S. presidential race, two people familiar with the matter said.
A final decision on the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has not been made and is expected in the coming weeks.
Not supporting Biden, who the union endorsed in 2020, would further damage the Democratic president’s reelection efforts.
Sources say the Truck Drivers Association’s endorsement of Republican candidate Donald Trump seems unlikely, but deep internal divisions mean the union may not back any candidate at all. That would be the first time since 1996, according to news reports.
Since his stuttering performance in the June 27 presidential debate, Biden has already seen a number of lawmakers and donors call on him to step aside, concerned about his ability to win reelection and serve another four-year term. Some allies say they believe Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump could quell those calls, but other Democrats are skeptical.
Biden’s team once viewed the endorsement of the truckers union as inevitable and still counts a number of senior leaders there as supporters. But months of deteriorating relations and growing concerns about Biden’s political stamina have soured sentiment among some leaders of the union, which represents workers in industries ranging from trucking to manufacturing and office work.
“No final decision has been made yet,” said Kara Deniz, a spokesman for the truckers’ union, adding that any report indicating an outcome was speculation.
Teamsters union president Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday night, offering no endorsement but thanking Trump profusely for opening the convention to him. He praised the former president as tough and attacked Washington as being run in a way that hurts workers.
He also praised Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance as one of many lawmakers who “really care about working people.”
“We are not beholden to anyone or any party,” O’Brien said on stage, as Trump watched.
“Trucker crew members don’t care if there’s a “D,” “R,” or “I” next to your name. We want to know one thing: What are you doing to help American workers?”
O’Brien has not yet been scheduled to speak at the Democratic convention in August.
Deniz told Reuters that the truckers union leader simultaneously contacted both the Democratic and Republican national committees to speak at their conventions but only received responses from Republicans.
A person familiar with the Democratic convention planning said no final decisions have been made about their programming.
“We are building a conference in Chicago that will tell our story to the American people, including the stories of labor leaders, unions, and workers that President Biden has presented as the most pro-union president in modern history,” said conference spokesman Matt Hill.
Biden, Clinton, Obama
The Teamsters union, founded in 1903, endorsed Biden in 2020, as well as Democrats Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, though they have occasionally chosen Republicans in previous elections.
The group’s frustrations with the Biden team have been growing in recent months. With one of the top priorities, saving transportation giant Yellow (OTC:) Corp. and its 30,000 union jobs from bankruptcy, O’Brien sought an Oval Office meeting to discuss the issue with Biden but was rebuffed, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Those frustrations have been exacerbated by some Democratic lawmakers and donors calling since the debate for Biden to abandon his reelection bid and open the door to another candidate, another person familiar with the union’s deliberations said.
Last week, United Auto Workers union president Sean Fine met with the union’s executive board to discuss his concerns about Biden’s ability to defeat Trump.
Working-class groups helped propel Biden to victory in the 2020 election in closely contested states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada.
Union groups encourage their members to vote, volunteer, and donate to election campaigns, and are an especially important source of money and labor for Democratic presidential campaigns.
In return, they expect policies that increase union jobs and wages and make it easier to negotiate collective contracts with employers. Biden’s gestures have included a $36 billion bailout of the union pension fund, which prevented cuts to more than 350,000 union workers and retired Teamsters union members.
In many unions, rank-and-file workers feel more divided about Democrats than their leaders, and Trump has been actively courting workers.
The Teamsters union has held roundtables with Trump and Biden this year and hosted about 300 local events with workers to gauge their views on the race.
Biden campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak said the campaign has attracted broad union support that reflects Biden’s “record of delivering results for working families while Donald Trump delivers results for wealthy donors and himself.”
Biden is a “champion of working people against greedy corporations — whether they voted for him or not,” he said.
O’Brien said the union would conduct opinion polls and would likely make a decision on support after party conferences end next month.