Vice President Kamala Harris has been stung by a key labor union declining to endorse her, despite having backed President Joe Biden against former President Donald Trump in 2020.
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) said on Thursday that it would not be endorsing Harris or Trump in this year’s presidential election after leadership narrowly decided against backing any candidate.
“Today, the IAFF Executive Board, by a margin of 1.2%, voted to not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election,” IAFF General President Edward Kelly said in a statement. “This decision, which we took very seriously, is the best way to preserve and strengthen our unity. We encourage our members—and all eligible voters—to get out and make their voices heard in the upcoming election.”
Kelly said that the decision was made after the union “took unprecedented steps to hear our members views on the candidates and the policy issues that matter most to them.”
Vice President Kamala Harris during a campaign rally in Las Vegas on September 29. The International Association of Fire Fighters on October 3 declined to endorse Harris or former President Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election after backing Joe Biden in 2020.
The non-endorsement follows a similar recent move by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which last month declined to endorse either candidate despite having previously backed every Democratic candidate since 2000.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the IAFF and the Harris and Trump campaigns via email on Thursday.
Trump touted the Teamsters non-endorsement as an “honor” shortly after Teamsters President Sean O’Brien announced the decision, saying during a Fox News interview that the union carries “a lot of weight.”
“The Democrats cannot believe…it was always automatic that Democrats get the Teamsters,” Trump said. “They said we won’t endorse the Democrats this year, so that was an honor for me.”
The IAFF represents nearly 350,000 firefighters, emergency medical workers and rescue workers across the United States and Canada.
While the union was an early backer of Biden’s 2020 campaign, the endorsement was heavily sought after by both major presidential tickets this year, with both vice presidential nominees, Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Republican Ohio Senator JD Vance, speaking in late August at an IAFF convention in Boston.
The Walz appearance went off without a hitch, with IAFF members applauding when he arrived on stage and at the conclusion of his speech. His Republican counterpart, who appeared for a surprise last-minute speech, received a far different welcome.
Vance was met by a smattering of applause and a chorus of boos when he took the stage, acknowledging that he has “some fans and some haters” among the IAFF members. More boos rang out when Vance said that he and Trump were “the most pro-worker Republican ticket in history.”
The Trump-Vance ticket has been endorsed by a handful of police unions and the National Border Patrol Council, while Harris-Walz has been backed by the AFL-CIO, the United Auto Workers and nearly every other major U.S. labor union.
Update 10/3/24, 6:08 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
