Top union offers backing for Ellison in DNC race

One of the country’s most powerful labor organizations is backing Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) for Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair, Politico reported Friday.

The Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) support isn’t a formal endorsement, but it is calling on its members who can vote for DNC chair to cast their votes for Ellison.

Ellison, who is campaigning for the top DNC job as an anti-establishment progressive, has already won the support of other powerful labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, the United Auto Workers and the Teamsters.

{mosads}”I welcome the SEIU’s support, and, as DNC Chair, I will always stand with SEIU and the working people of America,” Ellison said in a statement, according to Politico.

The Minnesota Democrat’s fiercest rival for DNC chair is former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who has won the endorsements of the United Farm Workers and the Commercial Workers International Union, among others.

Both Ellison and Perez have received the support of some of the Democratic Party’s highest-profile figures. Progressive firebrand and former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is backing Ellison for the job, while former Vice President Joe Biden has endorsed Perez.

Perez’s campaign said on Tuesday that 180 DNC members had pledged their votes to him. He will need 224 votes to win. The election is next week in Atlanta.