TOLEDO, Ohio — The president of the Teamsters Union gave a speech at the Republican National Convention on Monday, marking the first time a member of the organization has spoken at the event in the union's 120 years of existence and breaking from years of loyalty to the Democratic party.
"We are not beholden to anyone or any party," said Teamsters President Sean O'Brien as he strode onto center stage at the RNC Monday night.
In his 17-minute speech to the crowd of Republicans, including former President and current nominee Donald Trump, O'Brien made clear that while the union does not always see eye to eye with the party's politics, he believes the party is changing and that cooperation is possible.
"We will create an agenda and work with a bipartisan coalition that is ready to accomplish something real for the American worker," O'Brien said.
O'Brien still called out major corporate entities such as Amazon and asked for companies to pay their fair share, while thanking Republican politicians like newly selected Trump running mate JD Vance and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley for their efforts to assist the Teamsters.
Sam Nelson, a political analyst and professor of political science at the University of Toledo, said O'Brien's presence was puzzling.
"It's certainly unusual, right?" he said. The Teamsters have been endorsing Democratic candidates for a long time. At the same time, Sean O'Brien has been down to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald Trump. He seems to be developing a little bit of a personal relationship there."
The Teamsters Union has stated it will refrain from endorsing a presidential candidate until after both party's conventions. While consistently endorsing Democratic candidates for the last 40 years, the Teamsters is one of the few unions that has swung back and forth between parties, endorsing Richard Nixon in the 1960s and Ronald Reagan in 1984.
But Nelson says he's not certain O'Brien's speech means a future Trump endorsement.
"I think Teamsters leadership could be trying to hedge their bets, play both sides of the aisle in case Trump does win," Nelson said. "But I doubt they're going to get a lot of policy wins from supporting the Republican ticket."
However, state Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova Twp.) disagrees with Nelson's assessment and believes O'Brien is signaling that the politics of unions are changing and the politics of the Republican party fit what union workers like the Teamsters are looking for.
"I think there's a real shift right now in America where people are realizing that Democrats like Marcy Kaptur and Joe Biden have really turned their backs on the working men and women in northwest Ohio and our county. I think they support illegal immigrants more than they support U.S. citizens," Merrin said.
When asked for comment, Rep. Marcy Kaptur's office referred to a recent interview with news outlet Axios after she first learned O'Brien planned to speak at the RNC, saying labor workers have become skeptical after being hurt by trade policies since the 1990s.
The Teamsters Local 20 in Toledo declined to officially comment, with one member telling WTOL 11 they felt blindsided by O'Brien speaking at the RNC.