Is Joe Biden Losing Another Reliable Voting Bloc? Teamster PAC Donates to Hawley Reelection Campaign

As the 2024 presidential election gets closer, Joe Biden and the Democrats continue to lose once reliably Democrat voting demographics. Administration policies that only hurt Black and Hispanic voters are turning them away from the Democrat Party in droves. There may be another group that has had it with Joe Biden's empty promises and is open to taking a second look at the Republican Party. You might have thought you would never see it, but that group is the Teamsters Union. More specifically, the Teamster's Union Political Action Committee (PAC).

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is up for reelection in November and currently leads his Democrat opponent, Lucas Kunce, by a comfortable 14 points. But while you might think it would be a knee-jerk reaction for the Teamster's PAC to donate to Kunce's campaign, not so. The PAC recently kicked in $5,000 to Hawley's campaign. While the donation to the Hawley campaign is a small one, the gesture from one of the nation's largest labor unions, which has not made any presidential endorsement for 2024, is a pretty big one. Missouri is a reliable red state, and Hawley's fundraising efforts have borne that out. First-quarter reports show that Hawley collected $2.56 million as of April 1 and has $5.48 million cash on hand. Donations to Kunce totaled over $2.25 million for the same time period.

"More and more, unions are waking up to the fact that they can’t raise their numbers by appealing to workers directly. Instead, they’re heading to bureaucrats and boardrooms to get their way." via; @AjaxtheGriff @join_yv
https://t.co/qCNUiTGtVW @rc_markets pic.twitter.com/c8I8R2VNlI
— Institute For The American Worker (@Inst4AW) April 13, 2024

The Hawley contribution elicits several possible scenarios. In March, Teamsters President Sean O'Brien met with President Joe Biden. The two discussed issues like the PROAct, which would reclassify more independent contractors or freelancers as employees. This would limit workers' ability to choose freelance work by narrowing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) definition of who qualifies as freelance. Also on the Teamsters' wish list is Senate confirmation of Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. Republican Senators have blocked Su's full confirmation in the Senate, citing several controversial events. As California's Labor Commissioner, Su oversaw payments of $31 billion in fraudulent pandemic-era unemployment claims. She also supported legislation in California that would limit independent contractors but extend benefits like minimum wage, overtime, and healthcare to gig workers. Senate Republican reaction to both the PROAct and Su's confirmation has been chilly at best. Financially courting Hawley and perhaps other GOP senators who are up for reelection might be an effort to persuade them to see things the Teamsters' way.

Attn: @TheDemocrats @SenateDems @HouseDemocrats Californians in some 600 categories watch helplessly as our own govt outlawed the way we choose to work. With @USDOL IC rule you'll own destroying 60-million plus lives. @KevinKileyCA #FightForFreelancers https://t.co/JWDpW9xvbl
— Len Fernandes (@SierraTechPR) April 10, 2024

But could Union leaders finally be listening to rank-and-file members? After agreeing to a new contract last summer, O'Brien stated that the union, which represents 1.3 million workers, was "committed to speaking to a wide range of candidates." Besides a January meeting with Trump, the union has also met with independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornell West. Also in January, the Teamsters' PAC made a surprise donation of $45,000 to the Republican National Committee (RNC). The United Auto Workers, led by union President Shawn Fain, have endorsed Joe Biden, but at the March meeting with Trump, O'Brien stated that:

“Historically the Teamsters union do not make an endorsement until after the respective conventions. However, this has been a different process. We’ve never had candidates into the building, never had rank-and-file participation.”

As far as Hawley's support for all things union, he has changed his view on Right-to-Work. Back in 2015, as just an attorney active in the conservative legal movement, Hawley made his support of Right-to-Work in Missouri known, tweeting, “Time for an end to union-backed candidates in the GOP. #changeiscoming #RightToWork.” But in October, Hawley stood with striking UAW workers at the General Motors plant outside St. Louis, and in March, he also stood with striking employees of Graybar Electric in suburban St. Louis.

Josh Hawley's turnaround on labor issues might make him a rich target for those wishing to get Republicans to cave on those issues. But just maybe, the union rank and file have gotten the ear of their leaders. If the latter is the case, stranger things have happened.