Teamsters President Sean O’Brien reacts to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., saying the Democratic Party ‘abandoned’ working-class voters on ‘Your World.’
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said one reason the Democratic Party lost so decisively in the 2024 presidential election was because it “lost touch” with working-class voters.
O’Brien, a fourth-generation Teamster, told Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on “Your World” the 2024 race turned out to be an “economic election.” The Democratic Party, he argued, “wanted to talk down” to working-class voters instead of listening to their concerns about gas, housing and food prices.
“Instead of embracing and trying to find a solution to the problem, the Democrats took a position that their opinion mattered, and that’s all that mattered,” O’Brien said on Tuesday.
“You know, social issues are important, but at the end of the day, it’s putting food on the table, being able to afford a home, and despite, you know, the rhetoric of ‘this is the best economy ever,’ you know, it really hasn’t been. So that’s what I believe it came down to. It was an economic decision.”
A billboard for Kalshi showing 2024 US presidential election odds across from the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The labor union, which boasts more than 1 million members, did not endorse then-candidate Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 race, citing “few commitments” from either candidate. The non-endorsement was widely viewed as a blow to Harris’ campaign, as Teamsters have endorsed every Democratic presidential candidate since 2000.
O’Brien said the union doesn’t have “any regrets” about not endorsing Trump despite a large number of working-class Americans voting for the president-elect.
“You know, the polling that we did was extensive. Obviously, it went towards President Trump, but we still got a large contingency that are still Democrat, vote Democrat. So, that decision we made as a general executive board, we stand by it, and I’ll stand by it,” he added.
TOPSHOT – Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures during a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 4, 2024. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki broke down the Republican Party’s gains with working-class voters, highlighting Trump’s gains with those under 30 and those earning $50,000 or less annually.
Pre-Trump, voters under 30 were going for Democrats by 23 points, and those with an income of $50,000 or less were going for Democrats by 22 points.
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The 2024 election found voters younger than 30 supporting Democrats by 11 points, and those with an income of $50,000 or less shifted to Republicans by 3 points.
Voters make selections at their voting booths inside an early voting site on October 17, 2024 in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Several counties effected by Hurricane Helene saw a large turnout of residents for the first day of early voting in Weste (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images / Getty Images)
O’Brien said the good news for Democrats is that they have an “opportunity to refocus and try to reclaim why they lost the working class.”
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“They’ve got a lot of soul-searching to do, and look, I said this earlier today in another interview that, you know, the Democrat Party needs to take a look in the mirror and say, you know, maybe Chuck Schumer’s time is over. Maybe [Nancy] Pelosi’s time is over. Let’s figure out who’s going to be the best for the party,” he added.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters union members protest along the side of a road in Plymouth, Minnesota. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders released a statement on Nov. 6 echoing similar claims about the Democratic Party “abandoning” working-class voters.
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“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sanders wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”
