By Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Association of Fire Fighters on Thursday said it will not make a presidential endorsement, in what was widely viewed as a blow to Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
The union, which represents 300,000 career firefighters and emergency responders, determined “by a margin of 1.2%” against picking a candidate, 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,” Kelly said.
The decision is a setback for the Harris campaign, which is relying on organized labor to boost its outreach to working-class voters, particularly in the key swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
It is also notable because the union was the first to endorse Democrat Joe Biden at the outset of his successful challenge to Republican then-President Donald Trump in 2019.
The firefighters decision comes two weeks after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the nation’s largest unions, announced it would not endorse a candidate in the presidential race this year.
The vice president has earned the support of several other major organized labor groups since she replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket, including the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO union federation.
Harris has pledged to carry on with many of the same labor policies as Biden, who often touts himself as the most pro-union president in history.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Comments