Labor and civic leaders in Long Beach are tossing a Hail Mary in an effort to land production of Boeing Co.’s next-generation 777X airliner, hoping it will fill the gap when production of the company’s C-17 winds down in 2015.

Unionized workers in Washington state last week voted down an eight-year contract offer from the company, and Boeing responded by announcing it would open a competitive bidding process to decide where to produce the jet.

And while the smart money is betting that a non-union right-to-work state – likely South Carolina, Texas or Utah – will land the contract, that hasn’t stopped the South Bay lobbying machinery from kicking into high gear.

“We really don’t believe Long Beach is the front runner of all the places being mentioned, but at this point we need some hope,” said Stan Klemchuk, president of United Auto Workers Local 148, which represents 2,000 of the 3,000 C-17 workers in Long Beach.

He said that on some fronts, Long Beach can offer better terms to Boeing than Washington. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers opposed Boeing’s demand that they move from a pension to a 401(k)-type retirement plan. Klemchuk said the worker contribution plan was already in place for new hires at Long Beach’s C-17 plant.

He said he will “lobby like crazy to try to get this program down here,” and he will spend the next few days reaching out to Long Beach City Council, Gov. Jerry Brown, Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D- Long Beach) and anybody he can get hold of.

Jeremy Harris, senior vice president of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday that he was discussing next steps with local elected officials, trying to come up with something to pitch to Boeing.

The effort, most analysts agreed, is likely to be fruitless.

While Long Beach has the workforce and infrastructure in place to do some assembly on the 777X, it has no cost advantage over competing locations.

A bigger problem than cost is the regulatory climate.

“The real risk is the uncertainty of California imposing hurdles,” said Hans Weber, owner and analyst of San Diego aerospace consulting firm Tecop International Inc., “all the hurdles they have to get over before they can even get any permits. Other than that, Long Beach would be fine.”