In another blow to Vice President Kamala Harris, the International Association of Fire Fighters announced Thursday that it would not be making a 2024 presidential endorsement.
The union, which represents more than 300,000 career firefighters and emergency responders, was the first to endorse President Biden’s 2020 White House bid and has a long history of backing Democratic presidential candidates.
IAFF’s decision not to endorse a candidate in the 2024 race comes two weeks after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which has also long backed Democrats, defied the will of its pro-Trump membership and declined to make a presidential endorsement.
“Today, the IAFF Executive Board, by a margin of 1.2%, voted to not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election,” read a statement from IAFF General President Edward Kelly.
“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.
“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,” he added.
“The decision, which we took very seriously, is the best way to preserve and strengthen our unity.”
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), the only career firefighter paramedic in Congress and a retired IAFF member, told The Post that the union’s decision not to endorse was a “big deal” and good news for former President Donald 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 said.
“It’s not the same thing that happened four years ago when they were the first union to endorse President Biden,” the congressman noted. “It’s a big shift in that union not giving an endorsement.”
The IAFF backed the Democratic nominee for president in every election between 1984 and 2012.
In 2016, when Trump was up against Democrat Hillary Clinton, the union similarly didn’t make an endorsement, and as the Florida congressman noted, the IAFF endorsed Biden early in his 2020 race against Trump.
“I think the majority of the membership wanted to endorse President Trump,” said Gimenez, who served the City of Miami Fire Department for 25 years.
“So, I think this was a good day for President Trump,” he added. “This is the second major union that has failed to endorse the Democratic nominee — that’s a big deal.”
Gimenez, who represents Florida’s 28th Congressional District, credited Trump’s appeal with “the working man and women of this country” and his policy toward national security with why many rank-and-file members of IAFF are backing him in 2024.
“He wants to restore jobs. He wants to bring American manufacturing back. He wants to make sure that our jobs aren’t exported. And he’s also very strong on our national security and defense — as a former firefighter, those things are very important to me: the homeland security, national security and his support of public safety and public safety personnel,” he said.
Gimenez argued that Harris and the Democratic Party’s “extreme left policies” don’t sit well with firefighters.
“Not securing the border does not appeal to firefighters. Putting up bail for criminals who are involved in rioting — that doesn’t appeal to firefighters,” the congressman explained.
“Record inflation, you know, firefighters, they’re middle-class folks, and this record inflation, especially with groceries and energy prices, that affects firefighters and the families of firefighters much more so than the elites that Kamala Harris is appealing to.”
The Trump campaign called the IAFF non-endorsement “another devastating blow to Kamala Harris’ failing campaign.”
“Hardworking Americans including Teamsters, firefighters, Border Patrol Agents, law enforcement officers, teachers, small business owners, moms and dads are sick and tired from the inflation, border crisis, and chaos caused by Kamala’s incompetence and terrible policies,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“President Trump represents the change our country desperately needs and he will deliver economic relief, safety, and security for all Americans,” she added.
