President Joe Biden will meet with members of the Teamsters on March 12 as the influential union weights its endorsement strategy for the coming elections, after interviewing former President Donald Trump last month.
“We realize that President Biden’s time is limited and we appreciate that he is making it a priority to meet with Teamsters,” Sean O’Brien, the union’s general president, said in a release. “Our rank-and-file members and leadership are eager to have this conversation about the future of our country and the commitments that working people need from our next President.”
The planned meeting at the union’s D.C. headquarters comes several weeks after Trump ventured there for a roundtable event with Teamsters leadership as well as rank-and-file members.
The Teamsters historically is a Democratic mainstay, though a sizable contingent of its membership leans Republicans and the union has pledged to hold an open process in evaluating presidential candidates this cycle.
The union’s leadership, namely O’Brien, has caught some flack both internally and from other parts of the organized labor movement for courting Trump, even if the Teamsters ultimately goes for Biden. Beyond the former president, the Teamsters has also held meetings with several independent candidates and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who’s running a longshot primary challenge to Biden.
Additionally, the Washington Post reported that the Teamsters recently donated $45,000 to the Republican National Committee, in a noticeable break from past practices. Nevertheless that figure is less than a third of what it’s given the Democratic National Committee in recent months.
Following their Jan. 31 meeting, Trump and O’Brien expressed political differences on immigration policy — a foundational plank of the former president’s agenda — and the Teamsters’ leader said that Biden “has done a lot of good work for union members.”
Still, Trump has continued to jockey for the union’s blessing, posting on Truth Social in mid-February that the union “should go with Trump” over Biden.
“I will stop Illegal Immigration, which will Save the Teamsters,” Trump wrote.
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