In response to the endorsement, Rep. Keith Ellison vowed Thursday to make labor a high priority if elected chairman. | Getty AFL-CIO endorses Ellison for DNC chair

The AFL-CIO is endorsing Rep. Keith Ellison to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Thursday.

"Representative Ellison meets the high standard working people expect from leaders of our political parties,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. “He is a proven leader who will focus on year-round grassroots organizing to deliver for working families across America. Under his leadership, the Democratic Party will embody the values that our members stand for every day."


The AFL-CIO endorsement is a coup for Ellison given its prominence as one of the most high profile and influential labor organizations in the country.

An endorsement seemed imminent when a week earlier Trumka circulated a straw poll ballot among Executive Council members asking whether the labor groups should endorse Ellison for chair.

The options in the straw poll, which closed Dec. 6, were either to vote for the Minnesota congressman, to abstain, or to "make no endorsement at this time."

Ellison's announced competitors at the time — New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, and South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison — were not options on that ballot. Dean dropped out of the DNC chair on Friday.

In response to the endorsement, Ellison vowed Thursday to make labor a high priority if elected chairman.

"The AFL-CIO knows the challenges facing America’s working families and how to speak to working Americans of all colors, genders, and backgrounds,” Ellison said. “I am proud to be on their side and I am even prouder that the AFL-CIO is on mine. Workers will be central to the Democratic Party."