IAFF: October Surprise?

Eric Lamar
2 min readSep 23, 2024

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IAFF officer election in rear-view mirror

It’s been rumored that the IAFF Board’s original decision not to endorse in the 2024 U.S. presidential election was driven in part by some large locals threatening to pull out if Biden was tapped.

IAFF president Ed Kelly clearly alluded to Joe Biden’s greatness as the best friend of labor yet Biden still came up short.

Biden is long gone as a nominee and suddenly the IAFF, in a bit of a bombshell, is suggesting they may endorse after all.

An endorsement has much less to do with Biden’s departure than the very convenient fact that IAFF officer elections are over and Kelly and brethren are set for another four-year ride of joy.

Perhaps their security has emboldened them to take another run at an endorsement — it certainly helps to explain their sudden burst of courage.

One especially savvy and longtime IAFF member sees the hand of uber-Democrat Marty Walsh, former Boston Mayor and U.S. Department of Labor Secretary and current executive director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association in the current machinations.

Walsh

Kelly and Walsh are close, close, close and Boston loyalty is legendary. Walsh has worked with Harris before and was very involved in recommending Walz as the VP nominee.

As to an endorsement, well, geez — just read Trump’s Project 2025 on unions:

This so-called “Presidential Transition Project” shows outright hostility toward government employee unions — whether police unions, firefighters’ unions or teachers’ unions — saying that Congress should consider abolishing all public sector unions. (The Guardian)

Kelly has said that where a potential endorsement is concerned, all that matters are firefighter issues.

If that’s the case, the choice is stunningly obvious.

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