James P. Hoffa more than $750,000 in union assets had been used in Carey's 1996 reelection campaign. During the 1998 election Tom Leedham, then-director of the Teamsters Warehouse Division, campaigned against James P. Hoffa. Campaigning to unite the union, Hoffa won the election. After having lost narrowly in 1996 to Ron Carey, Hoffa's new role as president was considered by Teamster members as a chance to rebuild the union. Hoffa was re-elected in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 to five-year terms. "The first big test of the Hoffa administration" was the ratification in June 1999, of a four-year contract covering 13,000 carhaul members
Portland Hoffa main reason why he ceased hosting his own show after 1949, but Hoffa often joined him as a semi-regular on Tallulah Bankhead's radio variety show, "The Big Show" (1950–52). She also appeared as the "mystery guest" on one episode of television's "What's My Line", on which Allen had become a panelist from 1954 until his death in early 1956. Hoffa and Allen had also appeared in such films as "Is Everybody Listening?" (1947) and the Jack Benny vehicle "Buck Benny Rides Again" (1940). In 1959, after Allen's death, Hoffa married bandleader Joe Rines, later an advertising executive. Hoffa and Rines