Harris campaign, Teamsters set roundtable date

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is set to host a roundtable with Vice President Harris and the union’s members and executives on Sept. 16.

“We appreciate Vice President Harris taking the time to meet in person with rank-and file Teamsters. Our members are the backbone of this nation, working in all 50 states and representing every political background. We look forward to having a conversation on the direction of the country and the issues that matter to working people,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement first shared with The Hill.

The Teamsters have this year hosted roundtables with former President Trump, President Biden and third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West.

The Harris campaign accepted the union’s invitation to join the roundtable last month ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

The Teamsters have yet to make an endorsement in the presidential race, even as other unions and labor organizations — including the United Auto Workers, the AFL-CIO and the Teamsters National Black Caucus — have endorsed Harris since she launched her campaign in mid-July.

The labor leader said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the union had not yet issued an endorsement because he hasn’t yet met with Harris, and “you don’t hire someone unless you give them an interview.”

While the Teamsters endorsed Biden during the 2020 election and have historically supported the Democratic nominees, O’Brien has made it clear his union’s endorsement is not a guarantee.

O’Brien challenged the notion that unions should automatically endorse a Democrat during his speech at the Republican National Convention in July, saying “we have an obligation to do our due diligence” and “not just automatically support one side.”

But O’Brien has since rebuked the former president for suggesting during an interview with Elon Musk that workers who go on strike should be fired, calling the proposal “economic terrorism.”

Harris is leading Trump by 10 points among union households, according to a Fox News poll released last month. She’s also been a vocal supporter on the campaign trail of one of the union’s top policy priorities, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would bolster workers’ ability to form unions and bargain with their employers.

A Harris campaign spokesperson did not immediately return The Hill’s request for comment.

Updated at 1:50 p.m. ET.