Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said the Democratic National Convention ignored his request to speak at the high-profile event after he received backlash for speaking to supporters of former President Donald Trump last month.
O’Brien asked both the Democratic and Republican parties for an opportunity to address their respective conventions earlier this year. While the Teamsters president spoke at the Republican National Convention last month after the GOP accepted his request, the Democratic National Committee never responded to O’Brien, according to the Associated Press.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Democratic National Committee for comment.
The Democratic convention began Monday evening with a prime-time address from President Joe Biden in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, his No. 2 and the head of the Democratic ticket. Other Teamsters affiliates are set to appear at the convention this week, while Shawn Fain, the president of the United Automobile Workers, delivered an address.
O’Brien leads one of the most powerful labor unions in the country, boasting 1.3 million members. Unions are an important piece of the Democratic coalition, and the convention’s apparent cold shoulder to O’Brien appears to convey its displeasure that he was willing to engage with the party’s political opposition.
While O’Brien did not endorse Trump during his address at the GOP convention, his union is the largest in the country to hold out on support for Harris. The union leader’s appearance to Republicans in July came after the former president had vied for his support for months, beginning with a personal meeting in January.
“Before departing the union’s headquarters, the former President directly told those in attendance that the Teamsters would have a seat at the table if a potential endorsement was made for a second administration,” the Teamsters magazine noted in a reflection of the meeting.
Whatever relationship might have developed between the two appeared to have fractured earlier this month.
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Responding to remarks Trump made during a recent interview disparaging striking workers, O’Brien stated that “firing workers for organizing, striking, and exercising their rights as Americans is economic terrorism,” in a statement to Politico.
The Teamsters will announce their support for Trump or Harris after the convention wraps up this week.
