The UAW Presidential Debate
On Thursday, July 30, all six candidates for UAW International President met in the only debate of the 2026 election.
Will Lehman, a Mack Trucks worker in Macungie, Pennsylvania, and a socialist, was the only candidate at the debate who was not a representative of the pro-corporate UAW apparatus.
During the event, Will spoke bluntly to workers: the bureaucracy cannot be reformed. It has to be abolished, and power transferred to the shop floor.
Mail ballots go out to UAW members in August 2026. Read more about how to vote in the 2026 UAW elections.
What Will said
Will told workers the truth about the crisis they face: workers’ share of the national income is the lowest on record, more than 21,000 autoworker jobs have been wiped out since the start of 2024, and workers — Antonio Gaston, Ronald Adams Sr., Gregory Knopf — have been crushed to death under contracts the leadership called historic.
Every other candidate promised to run the apparatus better. Will made the opposite case: the apparatus itself is the problem. Class struggle instead of class collaboration — rank-and-file committees in every plant and workplace, controlled by workers, linked across industries and national borders.
“This was never about a few bad apples. The bureaucracy as a whole is an arm of management.”
— Will Lehman
“This campaign is not about what I will do for you. It is about what you are going to do.”
— Will Lehman
Will at the debate
Clips of Will from the debate, from the campaign’s channels. Share them with your co-workers.
Take up the fight
The debate was one night. Building a movement of the rank and file is what comes next — and it doesn’t happen without workers like you.
Sign up to organize at your workplace, distribute campaign materials, or bring the campaign to your plant.
The campaign takes no corporate money. It runs on contributions from workers.
