SF Dems fight to win for Harris-Walz at new HQ

  • by John Ferrannini, Assistant Editor
  • Thursday October 3, 2024
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Congressmember Nancy Pelosi stopped by the San Francisco Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday, October 2, to support phone banking and text banking efforts for the Harris-Walz presidential ticket. Photo: Omar Rincon
Congressmember Nancy Pelosi stopped by the San Francisco Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday, October 2, to support phone banking and text banking efforts for the Harris-Walz presidential ticket. Photo: Omar Rincon

If they're seeking to help hometown favorite Kamala Harris' campaign for president of the United States, denizens of overwhelmingly Democratic San Francisco need look no further than the vacant old Nordstrom Rack on Market Street — now decorated with hand-drawn poster board signs and featuring an abundance of cookies and candy bars.

And it isn't the only way San Franciscans who want to see former President Donald Trump lose his bid to return to the White House can get involved in national politics. One gay man is organizing trips to Nevada, a swing state, while another is helping coordinate volunteers to make phone calls in support of Democratic candidates.

At the local Democratic headquarters, people can come to rub shoulders with top party leaders like San Francisco Congressmember and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a straight ally, who showed up during the Bay Area Reporter's October 2 visit. Pelosi was there to tout San Francisco's Proposition H, which would lower the retirement age for firefighters from 58 to 55, allowing them to access their pensions earlier. Proponents say it's needed to reduce firefighters' exposure to carcinogens.

"Our firefighters are our nobility," Pelosi said, speaking to members of the San Francisco Fire Fighters Union Local No. 798, AFL-CIO who were at the headquarters. "I'm so proud to be associated with you. Guess who my appointee is for elector to the Electoral College?"

Pelosi's appointee to the Electoral College — every member of Congress gets one — is Shon Buford, a firefighter, who told the B.A.R. he's grateful for the opportunity, which came about after "a lot of work and support."

Pelosi said that "one of my proudest possessions is in my office, it's a chief's hat given to me by the chief of the New York City firefighters, the white hat, for the work we did for the health care for the 9/11 firefighters. It's such a proud possession."

Pelosi was speaker when the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act was passed in 2010. Zadroga was a New York City firefighter whose 2006 death was attributed to exposure to toxic chemicals while responding to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The act establishes a medical program for first responders to those attacks, and it has been reauthorized by Congress until 2090.

Pelosi spoke about the vice presidential debate October 1 between Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Republican vice presidential candidate Ohio Senator JD Vance. She attacked Vance for saying that Trump had worked to "salvage" the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which Pelosi shepherded to passage in 2010.

"They call that gaslighting or something," she said. "His [Trump's] first intention as president was to destroy the ACA. Either they're stupid or they think we're stupid."

She added that Vance's remark "shows the extent of the disassociation with fact, truth, or what," and said that all she's done in politics has been done "for the children."

"When you get in this arena, you got to be ready to throw a punch, take a punch, and throw a punch — for the children," she said. "It's so important, so important."

San Francisco Democratic Party Chair Nancy Tung stood in front of campaign signs for candidates and measures the party has endorsed. Photo: John Ferrannini  

Getting out the vote 'like learning to ride a bike'
The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, or DCCC, set up shop at 901 Market Street on September 10, party Chair Nancy Tung, a straight ally, told the B.A.R. during the visit. The first floor, all 15,000 square feet of it, is being used for phone banking, text banking, and letter writing into key swing states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that could determine the outcome of the election. The second floor is 30,000 square feet and, "if we're able to fill it, we'll fill it," Tung said.

But there's more at stake November 5 than the presidency — Democrats have a tenuous hold on the U.S. Senate and are trying to flip control in the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a two-seat majority. The path to victory might run through California's Central Valley or Orange County, Tung said, and so volunteers are also phoning people in those congressional districts from the headquarters.

"During the day is a little slower — there's retirees with a little more flexible schedule," Tung said. "Primetime for us is Monday to Friday, 5 to 7 o'clock."

Nonetheless, Tung said that the party takes walk-ins if they have a laptop, a mobile device, and headphones.

"Whenever people get a 'yes, I'm going to support,' they get to ring a little bell on the table and people clap," said Tung, who took over as party chair earlier this year.

Phone and text bankers and letter-writers are also focused on "encouraging non-traditional and occasional voters to turn out," Tung said.

The party isn't keeping exact numbers of voters reached because the technology connecting phone bankers to voters runs through thousands of phone numbers and only connects when someone answers the phone, Tung said.

Omar Rincon, a gay man who is co-president of the San Francisco Young Democrats, was phone banking during the B.A.R. visit. He was calling into California's 22nd Congressional District, where Democratic former assemblymember Rudy Salas is seeking to unseat Congressmember David Valadao (R-Bakersfield). In 2022, Valadao beat Salas by a margin of 3,132 out of 102,856 votes cast.

"Democrats are trying to fight for the House. It's definitely a priority," Rincon said, adding he did some calls on behalf of Harris to battleground states Wisconsin and Michigan earlier.

"These are two of the most important states," he said.

Peter Gallotta, a queer man who is an elected member of the DCCC, has helped teach people to phone bank.

"I think the thing I always tell folks is that it's like learning to ride a bike. Those first few calls might be a little wobbly, and you might need to stop and take a break to adjust your approach, but after the first five to 10 calls, you find your groove," he stated. "You know your pitch, you know how to handle some of the voters who just want to get you off the phone, and when you land that first 'yes' from the person on the other end of the phone, it feels as good as the wind in your face as you blissfully pedal forward on that bike."

The best part, he stated, is that "anyone can do it and learn how to do it."

"We've got training wheels for you, but trust that they will come off soon enough," he stated. "It actually is a lot of fun. We've had a few volunteers recently say, 'This is so addicting.' Because when you get that 'yes I'm voting for Kamala Harris,' all you want to do is get another, and another, and another."

'Center of the universe'
Work isn't the only thing offered by 901 Market Street — there were watch parties for the presidential and vice presidential debates, there are signs and buttons available to take home for candidates and propositions endorsed by the San Francisco Democratic Party, and of course, plenteous snacks.

Michael Nguyen, a gay man who is also an elected member of the DCCC, told the B.A.R. that he enjoyed the vice presidential debate watch party.

"I was at the VP debate watch party there last night, and the space is huge," he stated October 2. "It is much more fun to do phone banking in person, but there are also virtual options, but you won't get homemade brownies and cookies made by our volunteers. If you have the gift of gab, you can totally help make a difference to make sure folks have a plan to vote and are motivated to get to the polls."

San Francisco Police Commissioner Debra Walker, a lesbian and artist, drew art of Harris that is being sold for $20 a pop. Walker stated that she was inspired because she and Harris have a long-lasting professional relationship. Before becoming California's attorney general, Harris served as a prosecutor in San Francisco and was elected in 2003 as the city's first female district attorney. (She also became the first African American woman and South Asian American woman in California to hold the office.)

"I have known VP Harris for several decades now and feel so inspired by the possibility that she will be our first woman president," she stated. "I was honored to do this portrait of her standing with an illuminated Statue of Liberty. This piece is entitled 'It's Time' because — it is. And as VP Harris has said — she will be the first but not the last."

Harris, if elected, would be the first woman, first Black woman, and first South Asian American to be president; she is already the first woman, the first Black American and the first South Asian American to be vice president.

Asked which of the local races is drawing the most interest, Tung said the campaign to reelect San Francisco Mayor London Breed, the party's only endorsed mayoral candidate.

"She's got people coming in to phone bank," Tung said. "[District 3 supervisor candidate] Danny Sauter's people have come in to use the space."

Sauter, a straight ally who is the party's sole endorsement for supervisor of the Financial District, Chinatown, North Beach, and Fisherman's Wharf neighborhoods, told the B.A.R. that "the energy at the headquarters is electric."

"We're all working hard to get Democrats elected at every level," Sauter stated. "It sometimes can be hard to know how to get involved in politics. With the headquarters, you can simply walk in and you'll be volunteering for important campaigns within minutes."

Trevor Chandler, a gay man who is the party's No. 1 choice in the race for District 9 supervisor, covering the Mission, Portola, and Bernal Heights neighborhoods, is also an elected member of the DCCC himself. He told the B.A.R. he isn't using the space for his own campaign.

"Proud to have my signs up there though," he stated. "The headquarters demonstrates the seriousness our new majority has brought to San Francisco's Democratic Party ... our campaign headquarters is a bold statement that the San Francisco Democratic Party is back and ready to lead."

Joe Sangirardi, a gay man running for the regional transit BART District 9 seat (San Francisco) and who was elected to the DCCC on the same SF Democrats for Change slate as Chandler earlier this year, told the B.A.R. that "Like San Francisco, our new HQ is aggressively ambitious."

"People want to visit this space. It feels like you're transported to the center of the universe," Sangirardi stated. "We have phone banks, text banks, letter writing, print making. Whatever you're comfortable with, you'll find it here. We're the most civically engaged city in America. This election, we need to take that muscle we've built and translate it into saving our democracy. So, invite your friends."

Anyone who wants to sign up for a phone banking or texting shift can do so from the San Francisco Democratic Party's website.

Not the only effort
There are other efforts, too, to turn out the vote to ensure a Democratic victory. Manny Yekutiel, a gay man who owns the eponymous cafe in the Mission, and who as the B.A.R. previously reported hosted a fundraiser for the Democratic ticket when it still featured outgoing President Joe Biden, stated that he's hoping to get 100 volunteers per weekend to the swing state of Nevada each weekend of the four preceding the election. He already has 75-80 people signed up for each weekend, he stated October 2.

Asked how much interest he's gotten thus far, Yekutiel stated, "A lot."

He added, "The hope is that it builds as we get closer to Election Day."

A bus will leave from Manny's cafe at 1 p.m. Fridays and return Sunday evenings. All expenses, including motels, meals, and other transportation, are paid for.

People interested can fill out a Google Form

For those inclined to stay in the Golden State, Yekutiel is also hosting 24 hours of letter writing from October 23 at 8 a.m. to October 24 at 8 a.m. People interested can sign up on Eventbrite.

Meanwhile, gay longtime attorney Charles Spiegel has been coordinating letter-writing campaigns, phone banking, and text banking since Trump's 2016 victory.

"What we try to do is look for areas to work in geographically that are important swing states for president, that have important Senate elections and, if lucky, important House elections," he said in a phone interview. This year, volunteers as part of the Bay Area Coalition and Action SF have sent 15,000 postcards, he said.

Sending postcards has now ended, but people can still phone bank at home, Spiegel said, for both the Harris campaign and congressional races.

"Phone banking is often remote from people's houses," he said. "As long as you have a laptop and a smartphone, you can do that remotely."

Immediately after Election Day, letter writing will start up again to get in touch with voters who may not know their ballots need to be corrected in order to be counted.

People interested in getting involved should email [email protected]

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