(NationRise.com) – ELeaders of the 1.3 million-member Teamsters Union are considered not supporting any candidate at all in the upcoming presidential election, which could hurt Biden’s chances of regaining the Oval Office.
People with knowledge say that a final choice will be made in the next few weeks.
The group backed Biden in 2020, and working-class groups in states that can go either way, like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, helped him win.
Insiders say relations with Biden’s team have been getting worse for months and that some Teamsters leaders are worried about Biden’s ability to stay in office. On Monday night, Sean O’Brien, the president of the Teamsters, also went to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and praised Donald Trump.
Sources say it’s unlikely that the Teamsters will back Donald Trump, the Republican candidate; it just may not back any candidate at all. That would be the first time since 1996.
Since Biden’s stumbling performance in a June 27 presidential debate, many politicians and donors have asked him to step down. They are scared that he won’t be able to get re-elected and serve another four-year term. Some supporters say they think the attempt on Trump’s life on Saturday could stop those calls, but other Democrats don’t believe that’s the case.
Biden’s campaign team used to think that the Teamsters’ support was almost inevitable, and some of their top leaders still backed him. But last week, Shawn Fain, President of the United Auto Workers, met with the union’s executive board to talk about his worries about Biden’s chances of beating Trump.
At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday night, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien will give a speech. He has not yet been set to talk at the Democratic convention in August.
O’Brien asked to talk at both the Democratic and Republican national conventions at the same time, but only the Republican group replied.
In the past few months, the group’s anger toward Biden’s team has grown. One of O’Brien’s main goals was to save the trucking company Yellow Corp and its 30,000 union jobs from going bankrupt. One person familiar with the situation said that O’Brien tried to meet with Biden in the Oval Office to talk about this but was turned down.
The Teamsters, which have existed since 1903, backed Biden in 2020, Clinton in 2016, and Obama in 2008 and 2012. In past elections, they have sometimes backed Republicans.
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