In a shocking announcement on Thursday, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) confirmed that it would not be endorsing any presidential candidate for the upcoming November election.
International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) president Edward Kelly issued a statement declaring that the executive board of the union had voted by a margin of just 1.2% not to endorse either Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris or Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“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,” he wrote.
“As we have over our 106-year history, the IAFF will continue its work to improve the lives of firefighters and their families. 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. This decision, which we took very seriously, is the best way to preserve and strengthen our unity,” Kelly added.
A statement from @IAFFPresident following today's IAFF Executive Board meeting pic.twitter.com/D6K6eQFrF7
— International Association of Fire Fighters (@IAFFofficial) October 3, 2024
This news was especially shocking because the IAFF union’s executive board endorsed then-candidate Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020. So, even though Harris is Biden’s vice president and supports many of his policies, the union has chosen to stay out of the race. The IAFF has endorsed every single Democrat presidential candidate in the years between 1984 and 2012, though they similarly did not endorse any candidate in the 2016 election — meaning that Harris is just as unpopular among firefighters as twice-failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The bombshell non-endorsement comes as Harris is bleeding union support, as the Teamsters Union also refused to endorse any candidate for the 2024 presidential election even though they had consistently endorsed Democrats for decades. Of course, by all accounts, the Teamsters should have endorsed Trump — as an internal member poll showed that Trump received 59.6% support compared to Harris’ 34% — but they were apparently too cowardly to do so, or the leadership was still too anti-Trump to do so.
TEAMSTERS RELEASE PRESIDENTIAL ENDORSEMENT POLLING DATA
“For the past year, the Teamsters Union has pledged to conduct the most inclusive, democratic, and transparent Presidential endorsement process in the history of our 121-year-old organization—and today we are delivering on… pic.twitter.com/CnFNN9uosx
— Teamsters (@Teamsters) September 18, 2024
Meanwhile, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), a retired IAFF member who served on the Miami Fire Department for 25 years, celebrated the IAFF’s non-endorsement in a statement to the New York Post — declaring that it was a “big deal” for Trump.
“I’m pretty sure there was a big struggle for some people that wanted to endorse President Trump and some people wanted to endorse Kamala Harris,” he told the outlet. “It’s not the same thing that happened four years ago when they were the first union to endorse President Biden. It’s a big shift in that union not giving an endorsement.”
“I think the majority of the membership wanted to endorse President Trump,” Gimenez asserted. “So, I think this was a good day for President Trump. This is the second major union that has failed to endorse the Democratic nominee — that’s a big deal.”
🚨BREAKING —> Did you see how the @IAFFofficial Firefighters just issued a non-endorsement?
As the only firefighter in Congress & a lifelong union member, I know how big of a deal this is.
President Trump is making HUGE inroads with labor & it’s BAD NEWS for Kamala Harris!🚒🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BSNgjbb4oF
— Carlos A. Gimenez (@CarlosGimenezFL) October 3, 2024
