WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is on the brink of failing to win a key labor endorsement as leaders of the 1.3 million-member Teamsters union consider backing no candidate at all in the U.S. presidential race, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters decision has not been finalized and is expected to be made in the coming weeks.
Not backing Biden, who the union endorsed in 2020, would compound political damage to the Democratic president’s reelection bid.
A Teamsters endorsement for Republican candidate Donald Trump appears unlikely, sources say, but deep internal divisions mean the union may not back any candidate at all. That would mark the first time since 1996, according to news reports.
Since his halting performance in a presidential debate on June 27, Biden has already seen a number of lawmakers and donors ask him to stand aside, worried about his ability to get reelected and to serve another four-year term. Some allies say they believe Saturday’s Trump assassination attempt could quiet those calls, but other Democrats doubt that.
Biden’s team once viewed the Teamsters endorsement as all but inevitable, and still counts a number of senior leaders there as supporters. But months of deteriorating relations and rising concerns about Biden’s political endurance have soured sentiment among some of the leaders at the union, which represents workers in fields ranging from trucking to manufacturing and office work.
“No final decision has been made,” said Kara Deniz, a spokesperson for the Teamsters, adding that any reporting that suggests an outcome is speculative.