The 2016 Blast The latest POLITICO scoops and coverage of the 2016 elections. Email Sign Up

Tweets from https://twitter.com/politico/lists/team-politico



The union's president called the Vermont senator "the most pro-worker pro-union presidential candidate I have seen in my lifetime." | AP Photo Sanders snags another union endorsement

Bernie Sanders on Sunday announced that he had earned the backing of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, in the Democratic candidate's latest endorsement from a major national labor union as he looks to gain momentum ahead of Tuesday's five primaries.

Peter Knowlton, the union's national president, called the Vermont senator in a statement released through his campaign "the most pro-worker pro-union presidential candidate I have seen in my lifetime," adding that Sanders' candidacy “is a unique opportunity that workers and unions must not pass up."

Rank-and-file local delegates from the 35,000-member organization unanimously approved the endorsement of Sanders in the last six weeks, while Knowlton said in the statement that there has already been a "groundswell of support for Bernie with members volunteering for the campaign."

“I thank the 35,000 members of the United Electrical Workers for their endorsement," Sanders said in accepting the endorsement. “During my 25 years in Congress, I have been proud to stand side by side with the UE fighting to increase the minimum wage to a living wage; to guarantee health care to every man, woman and child as a right; to make it easier for workers to join unions; to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure; to transform our nation’s energy system; and against disastrous trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement and normalized trade with China which have destroyed millions of decent-paying jobs in America.”

It is the latest endorsement from a national labor organization for Sanders, who previously picked up support from the Communications Workers of America, the American Postal Workers Union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, National Nurses United and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Hillary Clinton has earned the support of several more unions than Sanders, though the senator has dismissed most of those endorsements because they were not decided by rank-and-file members.