Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., chided some major labor unions for their historic non-endorsement this year, saying their leaders failed to "show the courage they needed to."
The Minnesota governor appeared on "The Daily Show" Monday, where he touted the Harris-Walz ticket's appeal to the middle class. At one point, Stewart asked Walz why unions have "been more reluctant in this cycle" to back the Democratic candidate, after two major labor unions broke from tradition and decided not to endorse either candidate this election.
"It's a couple," Walz replied. "They have tough politics inside those. These are folks that are directly responsible to their members. And look, some of their members split off. The bottom line is, how can you be with a guy who wants to bust the unions, not there to make collective bargaining the right, not to make health care there?"
"Some of those leaders did not show the courage they needed to. The vast majority of union leaders showed the courage in backing us," Walz said after Stewart confessed he didn't understand the "cognitive dissonance" behind the unions' reluctance to back the Democratic ticket.
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Walz went on to say that Democrats needed to "talk to folks better" about their policies to address that "disconnect."
"I always said this as a teacher, if my kids weren’t getting the lesson, a lot of them, it’s probably because I wasn’t teaching it as well as I needed to. So I’m still of the belief that we have to do a better job," he said.
"How do you get a house? What's a tax cut look for you? And what's Social Security look like? We start talking to them. Look, the vast majority of union members, the vast majority of middle class folks know that," he continued.
Earlier this month, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) became the second major labor union to announce it would remain neutral in the 2024 race and not endorse a presidential candidate, despite backing President Biden in 2020.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters also broke with tradition last month by announcing it would not endorse a presidential candidate this election year, after consistently endorsing Democrats over the past few decades.
The historic non-endorsement came after the union released internal polling of its rank-and-file membership showing majority support for Trump.
The landmark decision ruffled feathers in some Democratic circles.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told The Washington Times, "It’s clear that these workers are misinformed or uninformed about Trump’s record on labor." "His allegiance isn’t toward working people."
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker, called the Teamsters’ decision "disappointing."
"Donald Trump refused to support a pension bill for Teamsters. It was Biden-Harris and Democrats who saved Teamsters pensions in the Butch Lewis Act of our American Rescue Plan — without one Republican vote," she said on X.
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Trump called the non-endorsement "a great honor."
"It's a great honor. They're not going to endorse the Democrats. That's a big thing," Trump told reporters shortly after the Teamsters' announcement during a stop in New York City ahead of a rally on nearby Long Island.
Harris has received support from several major unions, such as The United Auto Workers Union, the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the United Steelworkers.
Fox News' Charles Creitz and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this article.
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