Former President Donald Trump coaxed the Teamsters into making their first donation to the Republican Party in decades.
According to multiple news outlets Thursday, citing campaign-finance filings, the union’s PAC gave $45,000 to the cash-strapped Republican National Committee in January, its first such donation since 2004.
The donation reportedly came days after union President Sean O’Brien met with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago club, according to The Hill. The former president met with the union’s leadership team in Washington a short time later.
After that meeting, Mr. Trump said he might get a full endorsement from the union — “stranger things have happened,” he said.
Despite the RNC donation, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters does lean Democratic, albeit less vigorously than some unions.
The union’s PAC gave the Democratic National Committee $135,000 in December and $15,000 in March. It also has endorsed every Democratic presidential nominee since 2008, including Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in their races against Mr. Trump.
Nevertheless, the union has not yet made an endorsement for 2024.