"As DNC Chair, I will always stand with SEIU and the working people of America," Rep. Keith Ellison said. | Getty SEIU urges affiliated DNC members to support Ellison for chair

The Service Employees International Union is urging affiliated members who can vote in the race for Democratic National Committee chair to support Rep. Keith Ellison.

That recommendation, confirmed by the Ellison campaign, follows an endorsement from the United Auto Workers first reported by POLITICO on Thursday. The SEIU, however, is not making a formal endorsement in the DNC race. Instead the union is telling affiliated DNC members to back the Minnesota congressman.


"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.

Ellison's support from the UAW and SEIU underscores the bitter fight he and competitor former Labor Secretary Tom Perez have engaged in over securing top union support in the DNC chair race. Both Perez and Ellison are favored by liberal Democrats and have strong ties within labor. Both worked to scoop up as much top union support as possible.

Ellison has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters, and the United Steelworkers among others. Perez, meanwhile, has been backed by the United Farm Workers, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

Earlier in the week Perez's team said it had secured 180 votes of the 224 needed to win the DNC chair race. But given the nearly dozen candidates in the field it's unlikely that Perez, Ellison or anyone else will have enough voting DNC members before the actual vote in Atlanta on Feb. 23.

CORRECTION: The original version of this story misstated the name of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.