Teamsters’ Lack of Endorsement is the White Working Class Voting Against Their Own Self-Interest

By David W. Marshall

News Analysis

The residents of Springfield, Ohio, are experiencing the full and unfair effect of the politics offered by lies, division, and hate generated by the Trump campaign and their followers.

“We did not have threats” before the claims, said Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, referring to the accusations made by Trump and J.D. Vance that Haitians are stealing and eating pets. “We need peace. “We need help, not hate.”

Vance, the U.S. Senator representing the state of Ohio, has since doubled down on the false claim that Haitians are eating pets in Springfield. He also says he’ll continue to describe Haitian residents there as “illegal aliens,” although most have been granted temporary protected legal status in the U.S. because of the crisis in Haiti.  

Hate has become the political policy of choice for the Trump/Vance team. It is unfortunate that for many of Trump’s GOP supporters, it’s effective even when a Republican mayor is pleading for it to stop. Trump and Vance are fully aware that their strategy of lies, divisiveness, and hate resonates with segments of their base, while the Haitian community in Springfield is suffering needlessly for it.

The false claims would not be used for political advantage if hate-filled emotions did not drive Trump followers. Many who are White evangelicals claim to be drawn to Trump because of his policies despite Trump being a man who stirs up racial hate and division, which contradicts their Biblical teaching. Union members tend to be the opposite. Trump’s policies are anti-union, yet many union members are still drawn to the candidate of hate.

According to AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, one in every five voters in swing states is a union worker. Therefore, it is safe to say that Shuler’s statement is true in the swing state of Ohio. The Democratic Party has always been a big tent of inclusion, with its members signifying a broad spectrum of beliefs and issues. Despite unions being a key demographic group within the big tent, unions also reflect society’s culture wars.  The Teamsters Union, with its 1.3 million members, is one of the largest unions in the nation, representing truck drivers and a wide range of other workers, from airline pilots to zookeepers. It is considered a valuable part of the big tent.

During previous presidential election cycles, the union endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, Democrats Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. The Teamsters said their internal polling data showed that before Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, members backed Biden 44.3 percent to Trump’s 36.3 percent. In a break with tradition, the Executive Board of the Teamsters chose not to make a formal endorsement for this year’s presidential election. The surprise announcement came after the union released an internal poll showing that 58 percent of members supported Trump, compared to 31 percent backing Harris.

The internal polling illustrates that a number of White working-class men from the Rust Belt who supported Biden were unwilling to support Harris. This becomes another case where White working-class voters are willing to vote against their own self-interest by supporting the candidate of hate. Between the first and second internal polls, the rank-and-file teamsters must have forgotten how the first Trump administration was largely anti-union and anti-worker.

During his first term, Trump appointed a continuous flow of anti-union, pro-business right-wingers to the federal courts and the National Labor Relations Board. They forgot how the vice president fought for multiple bills strongly backed by the Teamsters and other unions. This includes the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, the labor movement’s primary legislative priority, making organizing easier for the Teamsters and other unions. Trump, by the way, opposes the PRO Act.

They forgot how Vice President Harris supported the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. This pro-union legislation will create hundreds of thousands of union jobs for Teamsters and other union members. How could they forget that Trump opposes increasing the federal minimum wage? Harris supports expanding it from $7.25 to at least $15. Did they know Vice President Harris walked the picket line with UAW workers in 2019?

The vice president’s senior advisor, Brian Fallon, noted that several Teamsters councils and locals in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and other battleground states unveiled endorsements for the vice president. She also won the endorsement of the National Black Caucus of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters – even as the Executive Board of Teamsters withheld its formal endorsement.

If Biden had remained at the top of the ticket, he should have received the endorsement of the Teamsters and Harris. The president supported the pension restoration funding under the Butch Lewis Act, which was part of the American Rescue Plan. Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate for the American Rescue Plan. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown named the Butch Lewis legislation in memory of the former retired head of the Teamsters Local 100 in southwest Ohio. This legislation saved the pensions for more than 100,000 Ohioans.

It is a stark reality in our nation. Many Ohioans will be moved more by the lies, hate, and divisiveness emanating from the Trump/Vance rhetoric than by the actions displayed by the Biden/Harris administration, which saved their pensions.

David W. Marshall is the founder of the faith-based organization, TRB: The Reconciled Body, and author of the book God Bless Our Divided America.