Exclusive: How Trump turned a viral Senate brawl into a union alliance

• Support from organized labor is not only critical to the presidential race, but also for Republicans' efforts to secure a majority in the Senate.
• Teamsters is influential in places like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — all of which have closely contested Senate races.

How it happened: After the challenge to fight — and Trump's own meeting with O'Brien — the former president "actually called me and called him and said, 'Hey, I need you guys to work this out,'" Mullin told Axios in an interview.

• The two met at an Italian restaurant in D.C. earlier this year, where O'Brien said he would "die a Democrat" but that his union members "see the Democrat Party is leaving them," according to Mullin.
• The two now talk regularly.
• "He has a unique personality, very tough personality, but you can say the same thing about me, too," Mullin said.

Between the lines: For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Teamsters declined to endorse a presidential candidate.

• The union also released internal polling Wednesday indicating that a majority of its members support Trump over Vice President Harris.

• It's a hopeful sign for Republicans, given the group's long history of alignment with Democrats — even as other unions have backed Harris.
• O'Brien spoke at the GOP convention in July, but was not invited to do so at the Democratic convention.

What he's saying: Mullin acknowledged there is still a long way for his party to go to win over union members.

• "They've just got to know that they can trust us. We've kind of got this picture that we're anti-union," the senator told Axios.
• Mullin himself has been critical of union leadership and said he's proud to represent a right-to-work state.
• But he also told Axios he sees unions as serving an important role, including pushing back on employers that are not taking care of workers.