Teamsters’ Political Arm Breaks With Decades Of Tradition

Funnels nearly $70K to Republicans in second straight election cycle after years of funding Democrats only.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education (DRIVE) PAC, a blue-collar powerhouse that has poured millions into Democrat campaigns for decades, is opening its war chest again to Republicans ahead of the critical 2026 midterm elections.
Historically, the Teamsters leaned heavily Democrats.
As recently as the 2024 presidential cycle, the union declined to endorse either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, marking its first break from endorsing a Democrat since 1996.
Internal polling reportedly showed nearly 60% of Teamsters members backing Trump, not Harris, underscoring the deep dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party among rank-and-file union members.
It can be recalled that the General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sean O’Brien, has not minced his words when discussing the Democrat Party.
In a podcast appearance with Theo Von Roast, O’Brien gave a powerful argument about the corruption of the Democratic Party, arguing that they are “bought and paid for” by their Silicon Valley overlords:

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m a Democrat, but they have fucked us over for the last 40 years and for once, and not all of them, but for once we’re standing up as a union, probably the only one right now, saying, what the fuck have you done for us?
And I’m getting attacked from the left, you know, and we’ve given, since I’ve been in office two and a half years, we’ve given the Democratic machine $15.7 million. We’ve given Republicans about 340,000, truth be told. So it’s like, you know, people say the Democratic Party is the party of the working people. They’re bought and paid for by big tech, those big tech companies.”

Now, the union’s political arm, DRIVE PAC (Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education), is putting money where its mouth is.
In 2025, DRIVE PAC contributed roughly $70,000 to Republican causes, including $5,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee and $62,000 to 22 GOP House candidates across battleground districts. Comparatively, Democrats received only $15,000 in donations.
“Look, this whole election for the Democrats was based on social justice issues, right?” O’Brien added. “And it seemed like this narrative of the social justice issues, it didn’t identify with our members. Our members identify with more money in their pockets, more job protection, better pensions.”

 
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/08/teamsters-political-arm-breaks-decades-tradition-funnels-nearly/