President Joe Biden announced Tuesday he is nominating Julie Su to serve as the next labor secretary, succeeding the outgoing Marty Walsh.

In a statement, Biden called Su, a civil rights attorney and currently the Labor Department's deputy secretary, a "champion for workers."

"Julie is a tested and experienced leader, who will continue to build a stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive economy that provides Americans a fair return for their work and an equal chance to get ahead," Biden wrote. "She helped avert a national rail shutdown, improved access to good jobs free from discrimination through my Good Jobs Initiative, and is ensuring that the jobs we create in critical sectors like semiconductor manufacturing, broadband and healthcare are good-paying, stable and accessible jobs for all."

In formally announcing the nomination Wednesday at the White House, Biden said that Su “knows in her bones that people who get up every morning and go to work and bust their necks just to make an honest living deserve something, someone to fight on their side to give them an even shot. Just a shot so they don't get stiffed. Well, that's happened to many workers for much too long.”

Su, 54, said she knows “the transformative power of a good job” after watching her mother, who immigrated from China, climb from poverty to the middle class in the U.S.

Her mother’s job “had predictable hours, paid sick leave, health benefits, a secure income and a pension when she retired.”

“We have an extraordinary opportunity to build an economy where no one feels invisible, where every individual and community not only gets to benefit from the president's transformative vision for America, but also gets to help make it real,” Su said.

If confirmed, she would become the first Asian American to serve as a Cabinet-level secretary in the Biden administration, although his Cabinet does include Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy Arati Prabkahar – all women of Asian descent.

Biden had been under pressure from the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and other Asian American and Pacific Islander advocates to select Su to head the department. His administration was the first in more than two decades to not have a Cabinet secretary of AAPI descent, despite its regular declarations that it was the most diverse in history.

Su, a Wisconsin native, attended Stanford University and Harvard Law School before beginning her legal career at the Asian-Pacific American Legal Center. She headed California's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement under then-Gov. Jerry Brown and later served as Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency under Gov. Gavin Newsom before Biden tapped her to join the U.S. Department of Labor as Walsh's deputy.

Su was at one point a potential candidate to lead the department before Biden ultimately picked Walsh for the role. Walsh, a former Boston mayor, is departing the White House to lead the National Hockey League Players’ Association, and Su will lead the Labor Department in an acting capacity until the Senate takes up her nomination. 

A group of California Republican lawmakers earlier this month sent a letter to President Biden urging him not to nominate Su, blasting her leadership in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawmakers, led by Rep. Kevin Kiley, accused her of allowing "one of the largest cases of unemployment insurance fraud to occur" during the COVID-10 pandemic – referencing reports that the state lost billions in unemployment funds to fraud – and implementing "one of the most destructive labor policies in decades," referring to Assembly Bill 5, a controversial law that classifies some independent contractors as employees.

"Either of these two situations should be an automatic disqualifier for anyone nominated to head the U.S. Department of Labor," the Republican lawmakers wrote. "But together, these two situations scream 'incompetence.' We urge you not to nominate Julie Su to be the next Secretary of Labor."

On Tuesday after Su's nomination was announced, California Republican Rep. Michelle Steel expressed concerns, calling her record in the state "troubling."

"During her tenure, she promoted policies like California AB 5, which makes it exponentially harder to work and find jobs in California and significantly contributed to the supply chain crisis," Steel wrote in a statement. "She also oversaw the state unemployment insurance system, which lost tens of billions of taxpayers’ dollars to fraud and theft on her watch. It is disappointing that the President welcomes this record of failure to his Cabinet and seeks to promote such broken policies at the federal level that have resulted in disaster for workers and our economy"

But Su has the backing of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, which expressed dismay that the Biden administration "has no Secretary-level AANHPI official serving in the Cabinet, the first time we have not had representation at this level since 2000."

"Deputy Secretary Su has dedicated her career to the promotion of workers’ rights and fair labor practices and to advancing equity and opportunities for all workers, including ones from historically underserved communities," the lawmakers wrote in a statement earlier this month. "She would be a stellar, exceptionally qualified candidate to be Secretary of Labor and would deliver results for American workers and the Biden-Harris Administration immediately upon her confirmation."

"Given her experience serving as Deputy Secretary of Labor since July 2021, we know Deputy Secretary Su can hit the ground running on executing existing initiatives of the Department while implementing new ones," the statement continues. "Because she is in the best position to understand the Department’s work and needs, and because the inclusion of an AANHPI as a Cabinet Secretary is long overdue, CAPAC endorses her to serve as Secretary of Labor and urges President Biden to swiftly nominate her to the role."

One of California's members of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Alex Padilla, hailed Su's nomination.

"Julie Su is the pioneering labor champion that workers deserve leading the Department of Labor, and I applaud President Biden’s choice to do right by millions of hardworking Americans," Padilla said in a statement, adding: "It was a privilege to work alongside her as she led a campaign in California to help low-wage workers understand their rights and feel safe speaking up about labor law abuses. Her experience and qualifications will fundamentally strengthen American labor in the years ahead."

Su was confirmed by the Senate to her current role in 2021 in a 50-47 vote.

Her nomination also comes at a key moment for labor unions, which have been facing a decline in membership for decades. Unions gained some momentum as workers at major employers such as Amazon and Starbucks pushed to unionize. But Biden — an avowed pro-union president — had to work with Congress to impose a contract on rail workers last year to avoid a possible strike.

The Labor Department said just 10.1% of workers last year were union members. That figure has been cut nearly in half since 1983 and could fall further, as younger workers are less likely to belong to unions.

Biden on Wednesday at the White House also applauded Walsh’s work the past two years, including on achieving record job growth and advancing the president’s pro-labor agenda.

“Thank you for everything you've done,” Biden said. “Thank you for standing up for labor. Thank you for standing up for ordinary people. And thank you for having my back.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.