Firefighters union declines to issue presidential endorsement

Vice President Kamala Harris suffered a blow Thursday as the union representing more than 300,000 career firefighters and emergency responders declined to make a presidential endorsement, two weeks after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters made a similar decision.

Leaders of the International Association of Fire Fighters gathered this week and determined “by a margin of 1.2%” against picking a candidate, according to General President Edward Kelly.

“The IAFF Executive Board determined that we are better able to advocate for our members and make progress on the issues that matter to them if we, as a union, are standing shoulder-to-shoulder,” Kelly said in a statement. “This decision, which we took very seriously, is the best way to preserve and strengthen our unity.”

Harris has won the endorsements of an overwhelming number of unions. But it's the second notable union-related setback in recent weeks for her campaign, which is strongly banking on organized labor to boost its outreach to working-class voters on her behalf — particularly in key swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Both vice presidential candidates — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) — spoke at IAFF’s August convention in Boston as the union considered its options.

IAFF’s late non-endorsement — with votes already being cast in some states — carries particular weight given that the union was the first to endorse President Joe Biden at the outset of his campaign to defeat Donald Trump in 2019. That was partly due to Biden’s decades-long ties with IAFF and its then-leader, Harold Schaitberger, who stepped aside in 2021.

Under Schaitberger the IAFF had also preliminarily planned to endorse Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign but scuttled the idea after taking stock of its membership, The New York Times reported in 2015 .

Harris has endorsements from the vast majority of national labor unions, though a handful of other blue-collar unions have decided to sit out the 2024 contest. That includes the United Mine Workers of America, which announced its decision over a year ago, and more recently the Teamsters after a much-scrutinized courting process .

Democrats remain publicly confident that union members will line up behind the Harris-Walz ticket, as a wave of Teamsters affiliates did in the wake of the national leadership’s snub. However, the slights from the Teamsters and a few other labor groups do have some Harris supporters on edge since Trump has succeeded in carving into the party’s historic advantage with rank-and-file members.

As with the Teamsters, IAFF said that its decision was partly a result of increased input from its membership, as opposed to the more top-down process that has historically been in place.

“Over the past year, the IAFF took unprecedented steps to hear our members’ views on the candidates and the policy issues that matter most to them,” Kelly said.

IAFF’s announcement also comes in a precarious stretch for the administration, which is navigating a high-stakes standoff between the International Longshoremen’s Association and a group representing shippers and port operators along the East and Gulf coasts.

ILA went on strike early Tuesday and the two sides remain far from a deal as cargo ships accumulate outside of idled ports, costing the economy an estimated several billions per day.

Business groups are pressuring the White House to invoke emergency authority to forcibly short-circuit the work stoppage. Biden has repeatedly said he would not invoke such powers and has instead leaned on the United States Maritime Alliance — the employers’ trade group — to improve its offer to the union.