State Sen. Clayton Hee, D-23rd (Käne’ohe, Kahuku), picked up an important endorsement today from Unite Here! Local 5, which represents about 12,000 hotel and healthcare workers.

Eric Gill, the union’s financial secretary-treasurer, said the union is backing Hee for re-election because of the senator’s “commitment to the working class values of our people and his unwavering support for maintaining the viability of the Turtle Bay Resort while preserving the open space on O’ahu’s North Shore has been clear from the very beginning.”

Reb Bellinger, a former state representative and vice president of Makai Ocean Engineering, has pulled papers for a potential primary challenge against Hee.