Firefighters Union Refuses to Endorse Kamala Harris

Organized labor is gradually turning away from Democrats.

Last month, the Teamsters Union rocked the political world when they announced that they would not endorse a presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election cycle. The last time the Teamsters did not endorse a candidate was in 1996. 

According to internal polling of Teamsters members, 58% supported former President Donald Trump, while only 31% backed Vice President Kamala Harris. 

On October 3, 2024, the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) followed in the Teamsters’ footsteps by not endorsing either candidate after it took  "unprecedented steps to hear our members' views on the candidates and the policy issues that matter most to them." Interestingly, the IAFF was the first prominent union to endorse Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

The IAFF represents north of 300,000 career firefighters and first responders.

"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," IAFF General President Edward Kelly declared in a statement.

"This decision, which we took very seriously, is the best way to preserve and strengthen our unity."

Biden has had intimate ties with the IAFF for multiple decades, which explains its quick endorsement of Biden in the 2020 election cycle. It’s then-leader Harold Schaitberger had a strong connection with Biden. Schaitberger would resign from his position in 2021.

Curiously, the IAFF did not endorse Hillary Clinton in 2016 after it consulted its membership. In essence, Kamala Harris’s campaign is morphing into Hillary Clinton 2.0. Harris and Clinton are part of the Democratic Party’s ascendant professional managerial class wing that has interests completely antagonistic to those of working class voters. 

Their support of mass migration, wokism, and women embracing the boss babe identity have made them toxic to the rest of the electorate. Republicans would be wise to hit Harris on these flaws to distinguish themselves as the national populist alternative to the globalist elitism of the modern-day Democratic Party.