Former President Donald Trump is set to meet with Teamsters union leaders and members on Wednesday, in an attempt to appeal to a traditionally Democratic voting bloc. This move is part of Trump’s strategy to win over working-class voters, particularly in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. These states, which supported Trump in 2016, switched allegiance to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
The meeting with the Teamsters follows a private gathering Trump had with the union’s leader, Sean O’Brien, at his Mar-a-Lago resort four weeks ago. This meeting sparked dissent among some union members. John Palmer, the group’s international vice president at-large, who has refused to attend the meeting, denounced Trump as “a known union buster, scab, and insurrectionist.”
Under O’Brien’s leadership, the union, representing approximately 1.3 million workers, has committed to engaging with a wide range of candidates. The union has previously held meetings with other presidential hopefuls, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and Democratic challengers Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips.
Despite the union’s past endorsements against Trump, the Trump campaign sees an opportunity to exploit divisions between labor leadership and the rank-and-file. “We’re not ceding any territory, any group, any demographic to Joe Biden,” a senior Trump adviser stated.
However, Trump’s outreach to union workers has not been without controversy. Last September, Trump chose to visit the Detroit area during a United Auto Workers strike, positioning himself as a champion for union workers. However, his event was held at a non-union auto parts supplier, Drake Enterprises.
Meanwhile, President Biden continues to garner support from labor unions. Last week, Biden won the endorsement of the UAW led by President Shawn Fain. Biden is set to meet with UAW members in Michigan on Thursday. He has also appointed labor-friendly leaders to critical government roles and issued an executive order guaranteeing certain wage and labor standards for most federal contract work.
Fain has been openly critical of Trump, leading Trump to label him a “Weapon of Mass Destruction on Auto Workers and the Automobile Manufacturing Industry in the United States.” In response, Fain stated, “I don’t care what Donald Trump says about me. I care about facts. And the facts are very clear for the large majority of Americans: The working-class people have been left behind by Trump’s billionaire class.”
President Biden has also committed to attending a roundtable with Teamsters members, according to union spokesperson Kara Deniz. The date for this meeting is yet to be confirmed.
Contributions to this report were made by CNN’s Arlette Saenz and MJ Lee.