Council representing more than 18,000 Wisconsin workers backs former Teamster Berman as polling shows dead-even race

RACINE, WI – Teamsters Joint Council 39, which represents more than 18,000 workers at four local unions throughout Wisconsin, has endorsed Emergency Room nurse Mitchell Berman in his campaign to represent Wisconsin’s First Congressional District. The endorsement adds to a strong and growing coalition of working people and labor groups backing Berman in his race against incumbent Republican Bryan Steil, who received a dismal 0% voting score from the AFL-CIO last year.

“As a former Teamster, as well as an emergency nurse who spent over two decades in health care, including service to veterans at the Milwaukee VA, [Mitchell Berman] understand[s] firsthand what working families in southeast Wisconsin are up against,” said Bill Carroll, President of Teamsters Joint Council 39. “Teamsters value candidates who have lived the struggles of paycheck-to-paycheck life and who will fight in Washington for affordable health care and the dignity of a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.”

“I got my first union card as a Teamster in college, and I’ve been a union member at every organized job I’ve had since,” said Mitchell Berman. “I’m proud to have the Teamsters in my corner. When workers stand together, we win. In Congress, I’ll fight to protect the right to organize and stand with the working Wisconsinites Bryan Steil has consistently sold out.”

Teamsters Joint Council 39 joins a growing list of unions backing Berman’s campaign, including the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers (USW), IBEW Wisconsin State Conference, SEIU Wisconsin, Communications Workers of America District 4 (CWA), United Auto Workers (UAW), Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC), American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Union (MASH), and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers Local 18 (SMART).

Berman will fight to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act and stop employers from retaliating against workers for organizing, keep manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin by steering federal contracts and tax incentives toward companies that invest and hire locally, and stop subsidizing corporations that ship jobs overseas. He’ll also expand apprenticeships and the skilled trades so a good career doesn’t require a four-year degree or a mountain of student loan debt. Learn more here.

The Teamsters endorsement comes as WI-01 has emerged as one of the tightest House races in the country. All three public polls of the general election show the race within a single point, with the most recent showing Berman ahead 48-47, and Fox News rates the race as a “toss up.”

About Mitchell Berman

Born and raised in a one-stoplight town in rural Wisconsin, Mitchell Berman learned the values of community, integrity, and hard work from his parents. He was the first in his family to graduate from college, working three jobs and taking out student loans to earn his degree. Determined to build a life through grit and perseverance, not privilege, he started working at age 12 and became a union member while in college. Berman is an emergency room nurse who has served veterans at the VA for more than a decade. A devoted husband and father, he’s running for Congress to put people over politics, and to fight for Wisconsin families.

The First Congressional District is one of the most competitive in the country, and has been named a “Red to Blue” district by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The district encompasses Janesville, Kenosha, Racine, Beloit, Elkhorn, Whitewater, and the Milwaukee suburbs of Cudahy, St. Francis, and South Milwaukee. In 2024, Donald Trump carried the swing district narrowly with just 51 percent of the vote. In both the 2023 and 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, Justices Janet Protasiewicz and Susan Crawford won the district handily by 6- and 6.5-point margins, respectively, and Justice Chris Taylor carried the district by ~20 points in April 2026. 

Learn more at BermanForCongress.com.

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