Report III · Released May 20, 2026

SMART-TD

SMART – Transportation Division (Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers) · 230,000+ members

America's largest railroad operating union. Two hundred and thirty thousand workers — led by a man who went on CNN to defend an alleged MS-13 gang member.

The Bottom Line

SMART-TD spent $35 million on politics over the Trump era — and not a single dollar went to a right-of-center group.

A rail conductor walking alone alongside a long line of freight cars in a vast railyard at dawn

Political Spending

The Money

From 2017 to 2024, SMART-TD funneled $35 million of member dues into politics. None of it went to the right.

$35,000,000+

Total political spending 2017–2024

DOL LM-2 filings

PAC Committee Spending

Democrats

97%

Republicans

Independent expenditures broke 100% Democratic — every dollar attacked a Republican or supported a Democrat.

$165,000

Independent expenditures, all to Democrats

Funded

Jobs With Justice (organized against ICE), Working Partnerships USA, and Blue Green Alliance — all left-wing advocacy organizations

Right-of-center funding

Zero. No contributions to any conservative-aligned group from 2017–2024.

Endorsements & Defending the Deportable

Anti-MAGA Advocacy

Three Democratic presidential cycles in a row. A union president on CNN defending an alleged MS-13 gang member. A senior officer with a federal hate-crime conviction.

A pair of worn work boots with an American flag pin — The rank-and-file vote Trump. Leadership keeps endorsing his opposition.

Presidential endorsements

Hillary Clinton (2016), Joe Biden (2020), Kamala Harris (2024) — three cycles in a row

Gen. Pres. Michael Coleman on CNN, 2025

Defended Kilmar Abrego Garcia — an alleged MS-13 gang member — from the Trump administration's deportation effort, claiming there was no evidence of gang affiliation.

Senior leadership

Senior Vice General Chairperson Zachary Nagy served 30 months in federal prison for burning a cross at a Black family's home in Kansas. He remains in SMART-TD leadership.

Hosted

VP candidate Tim Kaine at a 2016 rally at SMART Local 19 in Philadelphia, where Kaine accused President Trump of failing to pay taxes

Supported

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson; the UAW lawsuit against the Trump administration; opposed Trump's firing of a Democratic Surface Transportation Board (STB) member

Casinos, Theme Parks, and Sports

The Waste

SMART-TD wasted member dues at a scale unmatched in this investigation so far.

An empty casino floor at night with banks of glowing slot machines — Ten million dollars in member dues, gambled away at casinos and resorts.

$10,000,000+

Spent at casinos & resorts (2017–2024)

$1,000,000

Spent on theme parks

Nearly $5,000,000

Spent on sports activities

Frivolous spending, all categories

Over $100 million between 2017 and 2024 — across casinos, theme parks, sports, golf, swag, and entertainment

Leadership Salaries vs. The Members

Self-Enrichment

While 230,000 members work the rails, headquarters lives well off their dues.

An opulent hotel lobby with chandeliers and marble floors at night — The world the bosses fly to. The world their dues built.

The Salary Gap

Michael Coleman — General President

$421,201

Median rail worker

$75,680

SMART's general president earns more than 5.5× the median worker he claims to represent.

$327,192

Jeremy Ferguson — SMART-TD President

2024 LM-2

$250,902

Eight Vice Presidents — each

Identical to the dollar across 8 VPs and the National Legislative Director

15%

HQ staff earning >$200,000

The contradiction

SMART-TD funds racial-justice activists while paying its president 5.5× the median worker and employing a convicted cross-burner in senior leadership.

The Pattern

SMART-TD is one of seven.

SMART-TD is not an outlier. Across seven major American industrial unions, the same pattern repeats: rank-and-file members who voted for Trump, led by executives who fund his opposition.