Harris-Walz Suffer Another Major Blow After Largest Firefighters Union Refuses To Endorse

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz suffered another major loss on Thursday after the nation’s largest firefighters union refused to endorse them.

Edward A. Kelly, General President, International Association of Fire Fighters, announced that the IAFF Executive Board voted to not endorse any candidate this year.

“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. “We encourage our members – and all eligible voters – to get out and make their voices heard in the upcoming election.”

A statement from @IAFFPresident following today’s IAFF Executive Board meeting pic.twitter.com/D6K6eQFrF7

— International Association of Fire Fighters (@IAFFofficial) October 3, 2024

IAFF is one of the most powerful unions in politics with its Political Action Committee, FIREPAC, registering among the top one-half of 1% of all PACs in the U.S.

The organization, which has 350,000 members across the U.S. and Canada, says that 85% of the communities in the two countries are protected by its members.

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IAFF’s decision to not endorse either candidate is a major blow for Democrats as the group has endorsed every Democrat presidential nominee, with the exception of twice-failed candidate Hillary Clinton, for several decades.

Last month, Harris was rejected by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who announced they would not be endorsing any candidate for president this fall, the first time that they haven’t made a presidential endorsement in nearly 30 years.

The announcement came after the 1.3+ million member union released internal polling data that showed that its members shifted from supporting President Joe Biden over former President Donald Trump to overwhelmingly supporting Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden dropped out of the race.

Members backed Biden over Trump by eight points, 44.3% to 36.3%, but when Biden dropped out and Harris became the nominee, their support shifted dramatically to Trump, 59.6% to only 34% for Harris.