United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, an adversary of President Donald Trump, said he won in his reelection bid Friday, notching him another four-year term leading one of the country’s most powerful unions, which plays a critical role in Michigan politics.
The official results of the election are still unavailable, but an unofficial tally posted on Fain’s campaign website showed Fain sailing to victory with about 68 percent of the vote, to his top challenger Rich Boyer’s 13 percent.
“The membership has spoken,” Fain said in a written statement. “These results are about taking on Corporate America and reversing the worst out of control wealth inequality in America’s history.”
The UAW, a major force for the Democratic Party in Michigan, has been a target of Trump as the union’s political influence has grown in national politics under Fain’s leadership. Fain has been approached about running for president in 2028, Politico reported in August.
Fain, a former rank-and-file electrician, catapulted to the top of the union as an outsider in 2023, following a corruption scandal that resulted in the convictions of more than a dozen UAW officials and the appointment of a third-party monitor to conduct oversight of the union.
Under Fain’s leadership, the union made big strides: negotiating hefty pay increases for workers at the Big 3 automakers after a historic strike and expanding membership into new worksites across the country. But he has also been faced challenges as the union remains under the watch of a monitor. The Justice Department launched a federal investigation this summer into accusations stemming from the monitor that Fain had abused his power to seek special benefits for his fiancée and her sister.
Fain has denied the allegations and said that he believes accusations stemming from the court monitor are part of a politically motivated attack related to the UAW’s support for a ceasefire in Gaza.
For years, Fain and Trump have exchanged harsh words. At the Republican National Convention in 2024, Trump called for Fain’s firing. He has also called him “a stupid person” and told Michigan voters that Fain “sold you out.” Fain donned a shirt during his prime-time address at the Democratic National Convention in 2024 that read: “Trump is a scab,” referring to someone who crosses a picket line.
This summer, at a rally at General Motors facility in Michigan, Trump called Fain “bad news,” in a nod to union’s endorsement of Biden and later Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
“He thought that Biden or Kamala would be wonderful,” Trump said. “You wouldn’t have an auto industry right now if they got elected.”
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