(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden won the backing of a major labor union Wednesday, a welcome boost after partial results indicate a disappointing showing in the Iowa caucsues.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which has 775,000 active and retired members across North America, decribed Biden as “a longtime friend of working families.”

The endorsement comes at a key moment for Biden’s campaign. With about two-thirds of Iowa precincts reporting, the former vice presidnet was sitting in fourth place, behind 38-year-old Pete Buttigieg, self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, another progressive senator.

“What makes Joe Biden different isn’t just his support for our rights on the job, but his support for good energy jobs,” IBEW President Lonnie R. Stephenson said in a statement. “Eighty-five percent of IBEW members work in the energy industry, and our country needs a realistic plan to combat the ongoing threat of climate change without putting energy security or working families at risk.”

COMING UP

CNN will host town halls featuring eight presidential candidates in New Hampshire on Wednesday and Thursday, and some of the contenders will debate there on Feb. 7.

The New Hampshire primary is Feb. 11.

Nevada holds its caucuses on Feb. 22, and South Carolina has a primary on Feb. 29.

(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Hunter in London at khunter9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net, Kathleen Hunter, Magan Crane

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