DFL gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher Friday will announce that the 50,000 member Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council has endorsed her bid at an event in St. Paul, according to a source.
Since Kelliher won the DFL party nod, she has steadily added to her list of union endorsements. The list is not complete, however, the AFL-CIO federal decided Wednesday not to endorse anyone at this point, SEIU is sitting out until after the primary and DFLer Mark Dayton has picked up a smattering of powerful unions.
The building trades, an amalgam of construction industry unions, had previously endorsed DFLer Tom Bakk for governor, but he withdrew from the race this spring.
Bakk's campaign focused on "jobs, jobs, jobs" and that mantra has increasingly become one Kelliher has adopted. She spent this week on a jobs tour across the state and will hold a jobs-related town hall meeting Thursday night in the Richfield Community Center.
