Firefighters Union Will Not Endorse Anyone for President

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Last month the Teamsters Union shocked just about everyone when the declined to endorse anyone for president. That was widely seen as a big win for Trump and a loss for Kamala Harris but it could have been worse. The electronic poll of the membership found that 60% said they supported Trump while just 34% supported Harris. So, in a real sense, Harris got lucky that the union didn’t endorse Trump.

One pro-Harris union official later told Politico that the results of the poll were giving him “HRC flashbacks.” Hillary had also underperformed with union members in 2016.

So here we are a couple weeks later and it has happened again. This time it’s a major firefighters union that just announced they will not be endorsing anyone for president this year.

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.

One reason this is seen as a blow to the Harris campaign, which has rolled up endorsements from most union groups, is that this particular group was an early endorser of Joe Biden.

The lack of an endorsement is a blow to the Democratic ticket. The I.A.F.F. was one of the first labor unions to endorse Joseph R. Biden Jr. for president, days after he began his 2020 campaign in April 2019. By the time Vice President Kamala Harris took over the top of the ticket this year, both the Harris and Trump campaigns were still pushing to earn the union’s support.

Both vice-presidential candidates, Senator JD Vance of Ohio and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, had pitched for the union’s endorsement at dueling appearances in August during a gathering of the union’s members in Boston. Both candidates played up their campaigns as the more pro-labor choice, and both were at times applauded by union members.

Less than three months ago, the IAFF issued a glowing statement about Joe Biden on the day he dropped out of the race. Just look at this:

“Past, present, and future fire fighters are better off because of Joe Biden.

“For nearly 50 years, he has been a champion of the IAFF. His work has directly led to the hiring of tens of thousands of fire fighters, safety improvements in this most dangerous of jobs, and a nation that is now aware of the toxic threats we face every time we put on our gear. And, when a fire fighter makes the ultimate sacrifice, President Biden’s work has ensured their families receive the benefits they deserve.

“He is undoubtedly the greatest President fire fighters and emergency medical workers have ever had. Our membership – and the communities we serve – will forever be in his debt.

To go from that level of support to a non-endorsement in a matter of weeks is quite a turn. So why is the IAFF ditching Harris? So far as I can tell there is no poll showing the members overwhelmingly support Donald Trump, but it definitely sounds as if there is enough of a divide that the leadership didn’t think it wise to stoke that division.

“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.”

This is just another sign that things are changing. Blue-collar workers are moving right over time creating a serious long-term problem for Democrats.