Former President Donald Trump met with the Teamsters Union on Wednesday in an attempt to slice into one of President Joe Biden’s previous lines of support.
Trump attended a meeting with Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman, the union's executive board and other members at a roundtable at the group’s headquarters in Washington.
"We had a very strong meeting with the Teamsters," Trump told reporters, saying he thinks there is a "good shot" that he gets their endorsement.
"Usually a Republican wouldn't get that endorsement," Trump said while arguing that he was in a stronger position than other Republicans and that the union "never had ... a better four years than they had during the Trump administration."
The union endorsed Biden, who was also invited to participate in a Teamsters rank-and-file roundtable Wednesday, in the 2020 election.
Biden “looks forward to meeting with the Teamsters and earning their endorsement” in this year's election, a Biden campaign official said. It was not clear whether he would meet with the group Wednesday.
The Biden campaign's rapid response director, Ammar Moussa, also blasted Trump in a statement Wednesday, suggesting he "pretends to be pro-worker then sides with management and does nothing while factories close and jobs are lost."
"Trump’s long record of attacking unions and shipping jobs overseas while lining the pockets of his rich buddies speaks for itself," Moussa said. "While Trump spends his time attacking unions, President Biden is working every day to secure historic wins for labor and deliver for American workers.”
The Teamsters said the roundtable would be an opportunity for candidates to discuss how the next president and the group "can work together to empower and protect workers, promote high labor standards and strengthen the American economy while expanding the middle class.”
The union said former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Trump's rival for the GOP nomination, has been invited to meet with the group, as well.
In meeting with the Teamsters, Trump is eyeing union members who tend to vote Democratic. The union also endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016.
However, as the election draws nearer, O’Brien, the union’s president, said the group is open to lending Trump an ear in his effort to win it over.
“Our members want to hear from all candidates of all parties about what they plan to do for working people as President,” O’Brien said in a statement before Wednesday's roundtable.
O’Brien added that the union’s members are “essential to every trade industry in this country” and don’t all fall into one political alignment.
“Our members are working in all 50 states and represent every political background, including no affiliation,” O’Brien said. “Our union wants every candidate to know that there are 1.3 million Teamsters nationwide whose votes will not be taken for granted. Workers’ voices must be heard.”
Despite Trump’s move to meet with the Teamsters and garner union support, Biden has already succeeded in earning endorsements from a handful of unions for the 2024 race, including the United Auto Workers last week.
Biden also received an early endorsement from the AFL-CIO in June.
