In a major blow to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign to stay in the White House, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) said Thursday it would not make a presidential endorsement.
In his statement, General President Edward Kelly said the union, which represents 300,000 career firefighters and emergency responders, had decided “by a 1.2 percent margin” against selecting a candidate.
“This decision, which we have taken very seriously, is the best way to preserve and strengthen our unity,” Kelly said.
The decision is a setback for the Harris campaign, which has been relying on organized labor to strengthen its outreach to working-class voters, particularly in the key states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Reuters was mentioned.
It’s also notable because the association was the first to endorse Democrat Joe Biden at the start of his successful challenge to Republican then-President Donald Trump in 2019.
While Harris’ campaign has yet to comment on the matter, Trump’s campaign called it “another devastating blow to Kamala Harris’ failed campaign.”
That decision comes two weeks after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the nation’s largest unions, also announced it would not endorse a candidate in this year’s presidential race.
Still, Harris has garnered regional endorsements across the country from Teamsters locals, who represent more than a million workers.
The vice president has also won the support of several other major organized labor groups since replacing Biden on the Democratic ticket, including the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFI-CIO). .
Harris has pledged to continue many of the same labor policies as Biden, who is often touted as the most pro-union president in history.
Some senior Harris campaign officials, academics and Democrats linked the decision not to endorse Harris to a reluctance to accept women in key leadership roles.
The union had withdrawn from endorsing Hillary Clinton in 2015.
Both presidential campaigns made in-person appeals to fire union members in August, with Harris’ running mate Tim Walsh and Trump’s running mate JD Vance speaking at the event.
Harris also spoke at a separate IAFF legislative conference in Washington, DC, in March before Biden dropped out of the race.
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