President Joe Biden will meet with leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Tuesday, just weeks after the union made its first donation to Republicans in two decades.
Biden, who frequently calls himself the most pro-union president in history, hopes the Teamsters will endorse him at or following the meeting.
But the votes of rank-and-file union members have long been more evenly split than the spending of union leaders, and earlier this year, the Teamsters made waves by donating $45,000 to the Republican National Committee.
While the Teamsters also donated $45,000 to the Democratic National Committee, union donations typically tilt heavily to Democrats, making the split a noteworthy break with precedent.
The union backed Biden in 2020 and last gave money to the RNC in 2004. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien met with Trump at Mar-a-Largo earlier this year, and Trump visited the union’s Washington headquarters on Jan. 31.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Biden will host a closed-door campaign meeting with Teamsters leaders around lunchtime, as he hopes to emerge from the meeting with another endorsement in his pocket.
Biden won the endorsement of the influential United Auto Workers after he joined the UAW on the picket line in Michigan last fall during its strike of Detroit’s automakers.
