For ads-free news, click here.
From Fox News: The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) on Thursday said it would remain neutral in this year’s presidential race, electing not to endorse a candidate, becoming the second major union to do so in recent weeks.
The union’s executive board backed President Biden’s 2020 White House bid. In a statement, IAFF President Edward Kelly said the union membership voted by a margin of 1.2 percentage points not to endorse either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Trump.
“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 of the decision.
“As we have over our 106-year history, the IAFF will continue its work to improve the lives of firefighters and their families,” he added. “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. 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,” the statement concludes.
The union reportedly represents over 344,000 firefighters nationwide.
Considering the group’s history of supporting Democrat presidential candidates, their non-endorsement is seen as a huge blow to Kamala Harris.
A statement from @IAFFPresident following today’s IAFF Executive Board meeting pic.twitter.com/D6K6eQFrF7
— International Association of Fire Fighters (@IAFFofficial) October 3, 2024
Ironically, the only other time in the past 40 years that the union has not endorsed a Democrat was in 2016, when they also made no endorsement, instead of siding with Hillary Clinton.
Steve Morris at The Recount posted a timeline of the organization’s endorsement history:
IAFF endorsement history:
1984: Mondale
1988: Dukakis
1992: Clinton
1996: Clinton
2000: Gore
2004: Kerry
2008: Obama
2012: Obama
2016: No one
2020: Biden
2024: No one
IAFF endorsement history:
1984: Mondale
1988: Dukakis
1992: Clinton
1996: Clinton
2000: Gore
2004: Kerry
2008: Obama
2012: Obama
2016: No one
2020: Biden
2024: No one https://t.co/23dcVjof4K— Steve Morris (@stevemorris__) October 3, 2024
This is … not a good timeline if you are Kamala Harris.
Say, what Democrat failed to receive the IAFF endorsement in 2016, and whatever happened to her? pic.twitter.com/kQGP533eX8
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) October 3, 2024
BREAKING: The International Association of Fire Fighters just followed the Teamsters’ example by NOT endorsing Kamala Harris even though they endorsed Biden in 2020. The Union has over 344,000 firefighters across the country
This is an UNPRECEDENTED WIN FOR TRUMP!
“Today, the… pic.twitter.com/GQj9QVJRWw
— George (@BehizyTweets) October 3, 2024
IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL DML NEWS APP READERS ABOUT COMMENTS ON ARTICLES:
PLEASE ALLOW A FEW MINUTES FOR YOUR COMMENTS TO APPEAR, as the feature on our website that automatically approves comments is currently down. We are hoping it will be fixed soon, but it is out of our control. We are making every effort to come in every few minutes and manually push all pending comments out. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask for your patience and understanding until this matter is resolved. Please DO continue posting your comments. Your interaction and feedback is still very important to us. As usual, comments calling for violence or death toward any individual are not permitted.
The Dennis Michael Lynch Podcast archive is available below, with the most recent on top. Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the show by downloading The DML News App or go to Apple Podcasts.
