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.
The Daily Signal reported:
Republicans are continuing to receive labor union support amid Teamsters union President Sean O’Brien repeatedly lambasting Democrats for reputedly abandoning the working class.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ Democrat, Republican, Independent Voter Education (DRIVE) PAC has doled out nearly $70,000 to Republicans this year. The donations mark the second cycle in a row that the Teamsters’ political arm has donated to Republican candidates after contributing to Democrats exclusively for roughly two decades.
“Our members are working people whose interests cut across party lines,” Kara Deniz, a Teamsters spokesperson told Politico’s Playbook, which was first to report the DRIVE PAC contributions. “And there’s no value in living in a bubble … where you only talk to certain people to the exclusion of others.”
The Teamsters’ political arm contributed $5,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans’ campaign arm, and a combined $62,000 to 22 House Republicans, including Reps. Nicole Malliotakis, Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota, and Mike Lawler, all R-N.Y., as well as Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith, both R-N.J., during 2025’s second fundraising quarter.
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“Where the Democrats lost … they fell in love with their captors. They fell in love with big money. They fell in love with Big Tech. And they forgot who they’re truly representing: working people. You know why? Because they’re not in their communities, not in their neighborhoods,” O’Brien said on “Honestly with Bari Weiss” on Tuesday. “They’re not talking to the people that they’re paid to represent.”
“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.”
