{"id":36215,"date":"2024-09-17T13:14:21","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T20:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36215"},"modified":"2024-09-17T13:14:22","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T20:14:22","slug":"sf-volunteers-hit-the-phones-for-harris-at-new-local-party-hq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/17\/sf-volunteers-hit-the-phones-for-harris-at-new-local-party-hq\/","title":{"rendered":"SF volunteers hit the phones for Harris at new local party HQ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Natalia%20Gurevich\">By Natalia Gurevich | Examiner staff writer | |<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sep 16, 2024\u00a0Updated\u00a014 hrs ago (SFExaminer.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/4\/d2\/4d20e964-7259-11ef-8f58-871feed085bb\/66e51d8654e93.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267\" alt=\"Anna Sojourner\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Anna Sojourner, phone-bank volunteer for the Kamala Harris\/Tim Waltz campaign at the San Francisco Democratic Party Campaign Headquarters at 901 Market St. in San Francisco on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Several times a week for the next two months, dozens of San Francisco volunteers will descend upon a former Nordstrom Rack in Union Square to make phone calls, strategize and lend their support to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/how-kamala-harris-shows-power-limits-of-representation\/article_8c7efdb6-5112-11ef-b438-b7fa8107d3f6.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kamala Harris\u2019 presidential run<\/a>&nbsp;and other down-ballot Democratic candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of energy behind our efforts at headquarters because of the presidential campaign and Kamala being one of our own \u2014 we have created a space for volunteers who want to support our local, state and federal endorsed candidates and campaigns,\u201d said Carrie Barnes, a vice chair of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee. in a statement to The Examiner. \u201cIt\u2019s also important for us to lay the groundwork for a democratic majority in congress so that when Kamala wins she can advance a democratic agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The San Francisco Democratic Party opened its new local headquarters at 901 Market St. last week to coincide with the first presidential debate since Harris announced her run over the summer. Barnes said the decision was not premeditated, but \u201cworked out perfectly\u201d in terms of timing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even before they opened, Barnes said people had come knocking, asking what they could do to help during such a critical election year, particularly after Harris entered the run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAll eyes are on San Francisco because Kamala is from here \u2014 we have a female presidential nominee, we also have a female mayor who\u2019s up for reelection,\u201d said Barnes in an interview with The Examiner on Friday. \u201cThis is a beautiful moment in time where it really feels like women\u2019s equality is on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"4\" height=\"3\" src=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-64.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36221\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Debra Walker (left) and Marti McKee (right) making Kamala Harris campaign posters at the San Francisco Democratic Party Campaign Headquarters at 901 Market Street in San Francisco on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The local party has endorsed both the Harris-Tim Walz ticket and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/sf-democrats-endorse-mayor-breed-over-farrell-lurie-peskin\/article_74ae223c-4aa2-11ef-b3d7-8793462495f3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">incumbent Mayor London Breed<\/a>, as well as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfdemocrats.org\/voting\/endorsements\/2024\/nov5general\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">all but two of The City\u2019s ballot propositions<\/a>&nbsp;this fall. Volunteers phone-bank from Market Street on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. They said their reasons were different but shared a common purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is history right now,\u201d said Kimberley Rodler, who took the ferry over to San Francisco from San Rafael on Friday afternoon to phone-bank for Harris along with a handful of other volunteers tasked with calling registered voters in Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The current headquarters is just a block or so from where Rodler recalled volunteering for future President Barack Obama. She said Harris arrived at the office and \u201csat across from me for an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know who she was, but I knew she was someone exceptional,\u201d Rodler said. \u201cVery real, brilliant, warm, caring, in contrast to \u2026 things my mother taught me not to say.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"4\" height=\"3\" src=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-60.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36217\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kimberley J. Rodler, phone bank volunteer for the Kamala Harris\/Tim Waltz campaign at the San Francisco Democratic Party Campaign Headquarters at 901 Market St. in San Francisco on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost every volunteer on Friday told The Examiner that they were motivated to phone-bank in support of Harris due to their concerns over former President Donald Trump winning the November election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEverything in that Project 2025, everything they want to do if Trump is elected,\u201d said Bob Timlin, a SoMa resident who after being recently laid off decided to spend his free time devoted to the campaign, of why he wanted to volunteer. \u201cI would not want him anywhere near the nuclear codes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Timlin, who said he volunteered during Obama\u2019s 2008 and 2012 runs, as well as Hilary Clinton\u2019s presidential pursuit in 2016, said respondents haven\u2019t been much different than previous years. Avery McGinn, another frequent volunteer, said she noticed a substantial difference in how people have responded picking up the phone since&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/president-joe-biden-exits-2024-election-backs-kamala-harris\/article_bc162436-4623-11ef-a1ca-7b8c87abd2c0.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere was a really clear shift,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was easy, suddenly I didn\u2019t need to convince people of anything, people were offering to volunteer. Usually, that\u2019s a hard ask.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"4\" height=\"3\" src=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-61.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36218\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bob Timlin, phone-bank volunteer for the Kamala Harris\/Tim Waltz campaign at the San Francisco Democratic Party Campaign Headquarters at 901 Market Street in San Francisco on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.&nbsp;Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan Pfeifer, the phone-bank captain with the San Francisco Democratic Party and Nancy Pelosi\u2019s campaign who said she volunteered in the previous five presidential elections, said\u201cpeople are eager to start calling\u201d following the switch atop the ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Volunteers are able to sign up for phone banking through the party\u2019s email links, and the numbers can vary on any given day. There were only about nine volunteers Friday afternoon, but 38 were signed up for Saturday. Pfeiffer said they need \u201cmore furniture and infrastructure,\u201d but the party will \u201cprobably easily have 100 people here in a couple weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSan Francisco is volunteer-rich,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to fight to get out the vote for president here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond The City\u2019s likely overwhelming support of Harris, Pfeiffer said she hopes San Francisco can play a larger role in the national political conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re at the center of it all,\u201d she said. \u201cHow is the rest of the country seeing our stance and seeing San Francisco as a political powerhouse and able to move the needle nationally?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Volunteers, meanwhile, said they hope they can walk away knowing they tried to make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI just don\u2019t have the emotional bandwidth to deal with four more years of [Trump],\u201d said Anna Sojourner, who lives in Civic Center in San Francisco. \u201cIf it happens again, I will know I left it all on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several times a week for the next two months, dozens of San Francisco volunteers will descend upon a former Nordstrom Rack in Union Square to make phone calls, strategize and lend their support to&nbsp;Kamala Harris\u2019 presidential run&nbsp;and other down-ballot Democratic candidates. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of energy behind our efforts at&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/17\/sf-volunteers-hit-the-phones-for-harris-at-new-local-party-hq\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36222,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36215\/revisions\/36222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}