The AFL-CIO political committee voted Friday to back Hillary Clinton in the general presidential election, all but locking up the labor federation’s endorsement for Clinton.
The group’s general board will hold a call Thursday to consider the endorsement. Josh Goldstein, a spokesman for the union, told CNN the move means Clinton is virtually certain to be endorsed next week.
The Associated Press first reported the development earlier Friday.
In February — near the beginning of the primary fight — the AFL-CIO declined to endorse either Clinton or her challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The support of the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor federation, is a key development as Clinton looks to coalesce progressives and Democratic groups around her candidacy. She officially emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee on Tuesday, though Sanders has vowed to continue his campaign in the hopes of peeling away enough superdelegates to swing the nomination at the party’s convention in July.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren threw their support behind Clinton.