Hoffa Leads in Balloting for Head of Teamsters

James P. Hoffa appeared headed for easy reelection Thursday as president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, fending off a challenge from the leader of a Teamsters local in Oregon.

With nearly half the ballots returned by members counted, Hoffa led challenger Tom Leedham by a margin of more than 2 to 1. The ratio was consistent throughout the federally supervised count, which began Tuesday morning and is expected to wrap up by midday today.

The union has about 1.4 million members, but only about 350,000 voted in the mail-in election.

“Obviously it doesn’t look like things are going our way,” said Matt Ginsberg, Leedham’s sole campaign staffer.

Leedham, who lost to Hoffa three years ago, ran on a reformist platform, pledging to cut executive salaries and encourage more rank-and-file involvement in the union.

He was optimistic just two weeks ago, although he was heavily outspent by Hoffa.

If the voting trend holds, however, he will lose by more votes than in 1998.

“The numbers are overwhelming,” said Hoffa campaign spokesman Rich Leebove. “We are going to win this election by close to 100,000 votes.”

Leebove said Leedham’s “negative” message did not resonate. “He misread how the members feel about Jim Hoffa,” he said. “They trust him to negotiate their contracts, and they like that he’s politically independent.”

Neither candidate planned to claim victory or concede until the public count in Washington was finished.

Hoffa, an attorney and son of famed Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa, will serve for five years if elected. Leedham recently was reelected as the top officer of a Teamsters local in Oregon, a job he will hold for three more years.