Teamsters president Sean O’Brien criticized the Democratic Party after its presidential nominee Kamala Harris failed to secure his union’s support, saying the party has "f—ed us over for the last 40 years."
"I'm a Democrat, but they have f—ed us over for the last 40 years," O'Brien said on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast. "And for once—and not all—but for once, we're standing up as a union, probably the only one right now, saying, ‘what the f— have you done for us?’"
Last month, the Teamsters—one of America’s largest labor unions which has historically supported Democratic nominees for president—declined to endorse either candidate in the 2024 race for the White House. The lack of endorsement made Harris the first Democratic presidential candidate not to receive the union's backing since 1996.
Internal membership polling found that 59.6 percent of Teamsters voted to endorse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, compared with 34 percent who backed Harris. O’Brien said the rank-and-file shift toward a Republican candidate is the Democratic Party’s fault, not his members.
"And the Democrats, if 60 percent of our members aren't supporting you, the f—ing system is broken, and you need to fix it. Stop pointing fingers at Sean O'Brien, stop pointing fingers at the teamsters union. Look in the mirror," the union president said.
O'Brien—who spoke at the Republican National Convention in July—said that in the two and a half years that he has led the Teamsters, the union has given "the Democratic machine" $15.7 million and only given $340,000 to the Republican Party.
"People say the Democratic Party is the party of the working people—they're bought and paid for by Big Tech," the union boss said. "And you've got the Republicans who are now saying, ‘Hey, we want to be the working class party,’ right? And, okay, you've got a great opportunity right now to do that."
Democratic leaders have said the Teamster’s rank-and-file support for Trump is a "red flag," as Harris has the "worst" support among union households for a Democratic presidential candidate "in a generation," CNN reported.