Firefighters' union votes not to endorse Harris or Trump

In a surprise move, the International Association of Fire Fighters said Thursday it will not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential race.

The union representing 350,000 professional firefighters and emergency medical workers in a social media post said its executive board voted by a margin of 1.2% not to endorse either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump.

The union has a history of backing Democrats and endorsed President Biden in the last election. The Trump campaign cast the decision as a blow to Harris in a press release. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The vote came after vice presidential candidates of both parties pitched their messages to the union at an August convention in Boston. In those appearances, Harris' pick Tim Walz appeared to garner support from firefighters attending the conference. JD Vance, Trump's running mate, received both applause and boos in his speech the following day.

Some members at the convention were wary about an endorsement at the time. James Puckett, a firefighter from Killeen, Texas, told WBUR that while he liked Walz's speech, he wasn't sure if the union should pick a side, calling it "very divisive."

The statement Thursday from the union appeared to indicate that its members were as split as the rest of the country on the upcoming election. The board said it determined it was "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."

Richard MacKinnon, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, said his group takes its lead from the international union on presidential endorsements and does not plan to make a separate decision. Instead, he said, the group will focus on local races.

The Boston Fire Fighters Local 718 declined to comment.

The firefighter union's move was similar to a decision from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in mid-September. The Teamsters said polling of their members found "no majority support for Vice President Harris and no universal support among the membership for President Trump," and therefore did not endorse either candidate.

With reporting from WBUR's Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez.