The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has endorsed Brian Schatz, a former state Democratic Party of Hawaii chairman, for lieutenant governor.

The private-sector union has 20,000 members statewide and is particularly influential on the neighbor islands.

“We felt that Brian Schatz would be the best candidate for lieutenant governor,” said Isaac Fiesta, Jr., the ILWU president.

Schatz is running in the Democratic primary against state Sen. Robert Bunda, state Sen. Norman Sakamoto, state Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser, state Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu and state Rep. Lyla Berg.

State House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan and attorney Adrienne King are running in the Republican primary.