Teamsters President Sean O'Brien kicks off reelection campaign

Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald on Jan 19, 2026

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BOSTON — Teamsters President Sean O’Brien kicked off a 2026 reelection bid in Charlestown on Sunday — defending his record, speaking to the future and warning his opponent that Teamsters politics are a “full contact sport.”

“We need a full court press going into Las Vegas in June,” said O’Brien to a lively packed crowd of supporters.

“We’re going to send a message. Send a message that we are united, and we are ready to fight. And our opponents need to understand, it’s a full contact sport. They need to put the helmets on and buckle the chinstraps. It’s gonna be a long game.”

O’Brien, who was elected general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for a five year term in 2022, is running for reelection along with Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. The incumbents face a challenge from Philadelphia-based head of Teamsters local 623 Richard Hooker Jr., and his “Fearless 2026” slate.

Candidates need at least 5% of delegates at a Teamsters convention in June to advance to the November election.

O’Brien held his kick-off rally at the Knights of Columbus in Charlestown at noon Sunday, cheered on by a hometown crowd.

The president highlighted his accomplishments over his five years in office, including organizing over 90,000 new members — noting he hopes to hit 100,000 by the end of 2026 — securing financial stability for members on strike, making sure no contract can be implemented that members vote down and ensuring rank and file members a seat at bargaining tables.

“There is no union that is doing what we’re doing,” O’Brien said. “We negotiated the largest settlement and the largest collective bargaining agreement in the entire country. When people didn’t think we could do it, we got a $30 million deal. We negotiated the strongest contracts in the food service, in the rubbish, in the airline, in every single every single division we represent.”

O’Brien also came at Hooker directly, saying “if you listen to him, you think he’s running against Donald Trump, not Sean O’Brien.” Hooker has been a vocal critic of the relationship between Trump and O’Brien, who met privately with the president and spoke at the Republican national convention ahead of his election.

“He has not discussed one platform of what he’s going to do to improve this union,” O’Brien said, accusing the challenger of only organizing two contracts.

In response to the rally, the Hooker campaign contended the candidate has negotiated five contracts, with two being first time contracts, since being elected in 2020.

“Our campaign has explicitly talked about member power and how plan on giving it to them,” the Hooker campaign said. … “One of the campaign platforms is to lower the per capita revenue the international union receives so local unions can survive. With so many layoffs and building closures happening in our ranks, local union will lose resources to fight against employers. Without the resources, local unions will have a difficult time to organize new workers.”

O’Brien noted the goal is to make sure the opposition does not even advance to the November ballot.

“Of course, why wouldn’t you want to run when the pensions are fixed, when the strike benefit at its highest, when membership continues to grow,” said O’Brien. “F—, that’s pretty easy, isn’t it, to walk in, but we’re not going to look back. We’re going to look forward.”

The president spoke to continued “trials and tribulations” ahead of the union, calling Amazon the “largest white collar crime syndicate in the world.”

“They’re represented in every single division we represent,” said O’Brien. “They’re our biggest threat. And by us getting the strongest contracts in each in all divisions, we are empowering the non-union to look at what we’re achieving.”

The crowd was enthusiastically supportive of O’Brien and Zuckerman Sunday, packing into the event space and cheering loudly. O’Brien called the rally the largest attended union meeting in five years.

“We’re going to keep going to every state, every city,” said O’Brien. “Make sure that we’re getting our message out there, make sure we’re talking to members, make sure they’re included and make sure we’re transparent about what our agenda is moving forward for the next five years, and just execute it.”

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