Firefighters Union Declines to Endorse Trump or Harris in Presidential Race

(Left) Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Philadelphia, on Sept. 17, 2024. (Right) Former President Donald Trump holds a campaign event in Flint, Mich., on Sept. 17, 2024. Win McNamee, Scott Olson/Getty Images

With only weeks to go until the November election, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), a labor union representing more than 300,000 firefighters and emergency responders across the United States, announced on Oct. 3 that it would not endorse a candidate in the presidential race.

IAFF General President Edward Kelly said in a statement posted to social media platform X that the union decided, by a margin of 1.2 percent, not to endorse either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris.

“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.

“As we have over our 106-year history, the IAFF will continue its work to improve the lives of fire fighters and their families,” he continued. “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.”

The IAFF encouraged its members to “get out and make their voices heard” in the upcoming election.

The two vice presidential candidates, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, took to the stage on separate occasions in August during the union’s annual convention in Boston, Massachusetts, to pitch their visions for the fire service.

Harris also spoke at a separate IAFF legislative conference in Washington, in March, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

The IAFF was the first union to endorse Biden’s 2020 campaign. Harris was endorsed by the Auto Workers Union and the AFL-CIO union federation in July.

Harris’s campaign has not yet commented on the IAFF’s decision. The Epoch Times contacted a campaign spokesperson for comment.

The Trump campaign said Thursday’s decision by the IAFF was “yet another blow to Kamala Harris and Tim Walz” and “the second high profile union to snub [Harris’s] campaign in recent weeks.”

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters opted not to endorse a presidential candidate last month.

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in September that neither major candidate was able to make “serious commitments” to the union to “ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business.”

Trump and President Joe Biden met with the Teamsters earlier this year to discuss a potential endorsement. Harris met with the union’s leadership for a discussion last month.

“We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries—and to honor our members’ right to strike—but were unable to secure those pledges,” O’Brien said.

With roughly 1.3 million members across trucking and related industries, Teamsters is one of the largest unions in the United States.

September’s announcement marked the first time since 1966 that the union has declined to issue a presidential endorsement.

Jacob Burg and Reuters contributed to this report.