Warren, Bloomberg campaign spaces give volunteers bases in downtown Modesto
Presidential candidates are giving Modesto and Stanislaus County the kind of attention it rarely receives from them.
Former Indiana Gov. Pete Buttigieg spoke Friday night before about 700 people at a fundraiser for the Stanislaus County Democratic Party at the Assyrian American Civic Club in Turlock.
And former New York Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have opened campaign offices in Modesto.
Bloomberg’s campaign has an office at 1124 11th St. in downtown, with about 20 people — a mix of paid staff and volunteers — working from it. About 50 more volunteers are working from their homes, said Amanda Duran, the candidate’s regional organizational director. Modesto’s is among four offices the campaign has opened in the San Joaquin Valley, including Stockton, Fresno and Bakersfield.
The offices have more than 35 staffers, according to Fresno Councilman Luis Chavez, who is the Bloomberg campaign’s political director for the San Joaquin Valley, giving the campaign a strong presence in the Valley.
The Modesto office, which opened toward the end of January, arose from a strong interest by local residents in supporting the Bloomberg campaign, Duran said. “We started to recruit volunteers rather quickly. ... Within the first week, the first couple of days, we had almost 20 volunteers, so we got an office.”
It’s a base from which volunteers and staff go canvassing, make phone calls and conduct “tabling events,” meaning staff campaign tables at events and in public spaces, Duran said.
The office also is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, she said, and supporters are welcome to come by for brochures and signs and to sign up for volunteer shifts.
Anyone interested in more information or helping with the Bloomberg campaign may call her at 209-447-4493, Duran said.
Warren’s campaign has one paid staffer working out of a conference room that Modesto attorney Patrick Kolasinski has donated to the campaign at his 14th Street law office.
Israel Molina, a campaign spokesman, referred to the room as more of a staging and training location than a traditional campaign office. Doors are open weekends from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., primarily for volunteers to pick up materials and receive training on making phone calls and canvassing neighborhoods, he said.
But the space also serves as “a resource to the people,” he said, so residents are more than welcome to stop by for information or to offer assistance. “We are always recruiting for more volunteers. We need as many supporters as we can out talking with as many voters as possible,” Molina said.
The Warren campaign, aiming to compete in every district, has similar staging locations in Stockton and Merced and plans to open ones in Fresno and Bakersfield, he said. “In part, we’re excited to be building on the momentum of the 2018 midterms, with the (Rep. Josh) Harder and (Rep. TJ) Cox wins.”
The campaign sees the people of the Central Valley as eager to keep building on Democrats’ successes, Molina said, “so it’s really our aim that they have these skills and tools to continue organizing in their communities long after this election.”
He suggested that the easiest way for Warren supporters to get involved with her campaign locally is to visit elizabethwarren.com and click on “Events.” Listed there are opportunities to canvass, work phone banks, receive event updates and more.
Chavez, Kolasinski and Stanislaus County Democratic Party Chairwoman Jessica Self said they are not aware of any of the other campaigns having offices here.
California moving its primary election to March 3 this year accounts for some of the interest among the presidential hopefuls. California rarely mattered in the nominating process when it voted in June, but that has changed with the unsettled Democratic field of 2020.
But Chavez said the San Joaquin Valley — the eight-county region from Stockton to Bakersfield and which is home to 4.3 million people — is becoming more important politically.
He pointed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s visits to the Valley when he ran for governor in 2018 as evidence of the region’s importance. “It’s now becoming the norm where you have to pay attention to the San Joaquin Valley,” Chavez said.
Chavez said Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Tom Steyer have campaign offices in Fresno.
Kolasinski added that Democratic candidates are paying more attention to Stanislaus County because of Self’s leadership of the local party and Josh Harder’s victory to represent the county in Congress. Harder, D-Turlock, is seeking his second term after defeating longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham in November 2018.
President Trump also is paying attention to the Valley. He is expected to visit Bakersfield on Wednesday where he and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will speak about efforts to improve water deliveries for farmers, according to The Fresno Bee.
