For a politician, when does a failure to receive an expected endorsement get even worse than you initially thought? When it comes to labor unions, long seen as stalwart supporters of the Democrats, it's when they choose nobody instead of you. That was the case with the International Association of Fire Fighters, widely viewed as one of the most powerful labor unions in politics. They announced this week that they would not be endorsing Harris' presidential bid. Throwing more salt in the wound, they said they wouldn't be endorsing Donald Trump, either. Instead, they opted for "none of the above. They are far from the first union to make this choice. (Daily Wire)

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz suffered another major loss on Thursday after the nation’s largest firefighters union refused to endorse them.

Edward A. Kelly, General President, International Association of Fire Fighters, announced that the IAFF Executive Board voted to not endorse any candidate this year.

“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. “We encourage our members – and all eligible voters – to get out and make their voices heard in the upcoming election.”

Here's the official statement released by the union after the decision was handed down.

A statement from @IAFFPresident following today's IAFF Executive Board meeting pic.twitter.com/D6K6eQFrF7

— International Association of Fire Fighters (@IAFFofficial) October 3, 2024

We've been seeing this from one union after another, including large segments of the auto workers. Democrats have been taking these endorsements for granted for years, but now the actions of Biden and Harris seem to be coming back to bite them. Donald Trump has been out on the campaign trail portraying himself as the candidate for the working class. He has made significant inroads in that sector of the electorate. The union leadership ranks haven't been able to bring themselves to endorse a Republican... at least, not yet. But the rank-and-file workers are clearly in the mood for a change to the status quo.

This chasm was even more on display with the auto workers. Internal polling showed that their members preferred Trump over Harris, but the management couldn't formally endorse Trump, so they just told their workers to vote for who they liked best. This will likely be one of the stronger performances turned in by a Republican among union workers that we've seen in living memory. Don't be shocked if more unions begin showing a bit of spine and an independent streak as well.

Will that be enough to make a difference in the swing states? Who knows? But in a race this close, everything appears to be up for grabs. In the end, it's not the endorsement of the management that counts. It's the number of workers who actually show up and cast their ballots.