President Joe Biden won the International Brotherhood of Teamsters endorsement in 2020, but the union is now taking meetings with two of his biggest independent rivals.
As part of the union's endorsement process, long-shot independent presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West were invited to pitch themselves in meetings with the union this week.
West met for an hour with the with Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien, General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman and rank-and-file members at the Washington headquarters on Thursday, his campaign told POLITICO after the roundtable. West said in a statement that he had a "magnificent meeting" with "my wonderful comrades in the Teamsters Union.”
West and Kennedy weren't the only ones invited. GOP primary candidate Asa Hutchinson and Democratic primary challengers Marianne Williamson and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) were also invited for what the Teamsters’ called the first round of endorsement roundtable interviews.
This is the first time the Teamsters have held roundtable interviews with candidates from both parties and independents.
The support of organized labor can be decisive in pro-union states, particularly Midwestern swing states, and both Biden and former President Donald Trump courted union workers during the UAW strikes this summer.
Biden, who calls himself the most pro-union president in history, became the first president to walk the picket line in Michigan with autoworkers earlier this year. He has already earned an endorsement from the AFL-CIO, which has 12.5 million workers.
Still, Teamsters, which represents 1.3 million members, are looking at all of their options.
"The president has a close working relationship with the Teamsters and looks forward to working through their endorsement process to earn the support of their members," said TJ Ducklo, Biden's senior adviser for communications, in a statement to POLITICO.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the Teamsters’ meetings.
Trump has drawn significant support from union members, if not their leadership, in the past. During the UAW strike, Trump also rallied with autoworkers in Detroit, though the rally was hosted by a non-unionized auto shop.
At the time, UAW President Shawn Fain didn't welcome Trump's visit and said the former president “serves the billionaire class,” not workers.
The UAW has not yet endorsed in the 2024 presidential race, but Biden and Fain met earlier this month.
The Teamsters said they would schedule interviews with every candidate running for president and will host more roundtables next year.
“Our union wants every candidate to know that there are 1.3 million Teamsters nationwide whose votes will not be taken for granted,” O’Brien said in a press release.
Eugene Daniels contributed to this report.
