America’s union of fire fighters is declining — for just the second time in 40 years — to endorse a candidate in the presidential election. It comes on the heels of the Teamsters doing the same in the contest between President Trump and Vice President Harris. 

On Thursday, the International Association of Fire Fighters — which boasts a membership of more than 300,000 — said it would stay out of the presidential race following a vote by its executive board. The union said in a statement that while the vote margin to not endorse a candidate was narrow, they still have an obligation to respect its members. 

“Today, the IAFF Executive Board, by a margin of 1.2%, voted to not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election. 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,” the union said. “As we have over our 106-year history, the IAFF will continue its work to improve the lives of fire fighters and their families.” 

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

The IAFF has long given its endorsements to Democratic candidates, making this non-endorsement all the more painful for Ms. Harris. Every Democratic presidential nominee except Ms. Harris and Senator Clinton have won the endorsement of the fire fighters’ union. In 2019, the IAFF was one of the first large unions to endorse President Biden’s candidacy, and they did so just four days after he entered the Democratic primary. 

An advisor to Trump, Tim Murtaugh, wrote on X that Ms. Harris is likely to meet the same fate as Mrs. Clinton now that the union has decided to stay out of the race. “This is … not a good timeline if you are Kamala Harris,” Mr. Murtaugh wrote. “Say, what Democrat failed to receive the IAFF endorsement in 2016, and whatever happened to her?”

The IAFF non-endorsement echoes another historic decision by another powerful union. In September, the Teamsters — a union four times the size of the IAFF — said they would not back either candidate following a union member poll showing Trump had overwhelmingly won the support of everyday Teamsters members. Following that decision, a number of Teamsters locals in critical battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin came out in support of Ms. Harris.