MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — For the first time, a member of the Teamsters spoke at the Republican National Convention.
Sean O'Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters, was invited to speak by former President Donald Trump.
Paul Baumgardner, professor of political science at Augustana College, said it was an unconventional speech.
"The kind of speech that the Teamsters President O'Brien gave is not the kind of speech you would have seen at an RNC at any time during my life," Baumgardner said. "He was railing against the elite, against corporate welfare, very nationalistic, talking about, obviously the importance of unions, but also expanding workers' rights and federal labor protections."
He said the crowd recognized the difference, too.
"Some of the reception to this speech wasn't as warm as the reception to other RNC speakers," Baumgardner said.
While the Teamsters haven't endorsed either presidential candidate, Baumgardner said the speech was a way to encourage both political parties to work together.
"The Teamsters are not interested if you have a D, R or I next to your name," O'Brien said. "We want to know one thing — what are you doing to help American workers?"
Baumgardner also said O'Brien's invitation indicates the Republican party's recent shift towards populism.
"We've seen more openly populistic rhetoric from elected officials," Baumgardner said. "And there are even some policy stances that we see people like JD Vance, or Josh Hawley, or Donald Trump taking, that Ronald Reagan would not have taken, that George H. W. Bush would not have taken, that George W. Bush would not have taken."
He said the GOP is trying to pull a different group of voters.
"So there is a fight right now over the white working class, I think more broadly the working class vote, both union and non-union," Baumgardner said.
State Sen. Neil Anderson (R - Andalusia), who is also a firefighter and a union member, weighed in on the speech.
"A growing number of union workers have realized President Trump and the Republican Party truly share their core values and won’t take their votes for granted," Anderson said in a statement. "I was happy to see that play out in prime time at the Republican National Convention."
News 8 reached out to State Rep. Mike Halpin (D - Rock Island), who has historically supported unions. He was not available for comment.
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