CONCORD – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jackie Cilley has picked up the endorsement of the largest public employees union in the state.

The State Employees Association announced its support of Cilley at a news conference Monday at the union's Concord headquarters.

“She understands how interconnected the success of working families is to the success of our communities and our businesses,” SEA President Diana Lacey said.

Cilley said she intended to highlight the work of public sector workers in her campaign.

“It's time to stop talking about government as some big amorphous entity and start sharing with people exactly what these people do,” Cilley said. “So many of our citizens maybe don't think a lot about it when they go to bed at night and there's a snowstorm, that there's somebody out there plowing the roads.”

Lacey said Cilley's endorsement was the culmination of a three-month process, during which members chose among Republican and Democratic candidates. Members made their selections based on online videos submitted by the Democratic candidates. The Republicans did not participate, Lacey said.

The SEA endorsed Cilley over the other Democratic candidate for governor, Maggie Hassan.

However, Hassan picked up a union endorsement of her own on Monday, from Teamsters Local 633, which represents a wide range of public and private-sector workers.

The endorsements come as lawmakers in New Hampshire and other states have cut public worker payrolls and proposed legislation that would curtail union bargaining rights.

The SEA, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, represents about 11,500 workers, most of them state government employees.