Kamala Harris Helped Save Teamsters’ Pensions. She Still Couldn’t Get Their Endorsement.

The decision not to endorse has put headquarters at odds with its many local bodies that are supporting the Democratic nominee.

When Vice President Kamala Harris met with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 16, she was hoping to walk away with a major union endorsement. The Democratic nominee offered plenty of reasons why she was better for labor than Donald Trump, but she returned to one issue more than once.

“She reinforced the pension thing over and over,” said John Palmer, a member of the Teamsters’ executive board who was in the meeting.

In 2021, Democrats attached an expensive pension bailout to the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion stimulus package they muscled through the Senate on a party-line vote at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The inclusion of an estimated $74 to $91 billion to shore up troubled multiemployer pension funds was a small legislative miracle for the Teamsters and other unions – and it never would have happened without Harris.

At the time, the Senate had 50 members caucusing with Democrats and 50 with Republicans, with Harris, as president of the chamber, serving as the tie-breaker to end deadlocks. She cast the deciding vote in a crucial step known as the motion to proceed, allowing the stimulus package to advance with zero Republican support.

But two days after the meeting with Harris, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien announced that the 1.3 million-member union would not be backing Harris or Trump. The controversial non-endorsement effectively boosted the Trump campaign, since it marked the first time since 1992 that the Teamsters didn’t support a Democrat for the White House. O’Brien also gave Trump a lift by releasing internal polls showing members preferred the former Republican president over Harris.