Clinton campaign opens Petaluma office

With less than two weeks until the Nov. 8 election, supporters of Democrat Hillary Clinton only recently opened a campaign presence in Petaluma, staffed mostly with volunteers making calls to voters in battleground states. Local Republicans, meanwhile, are choosing to focus on down ballot races rather than expend efforts for their presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

The lack of urgency from both parties reflects a national presidential race that has shifted heavily in Clinton’s favor in recent weeks, political analysts said. It also demonstrates Sonoma County’s status as a solidly blue bastion, and a place with few undecided swing voters.

“California is already a decided state,” said Brian Sobel, a Petaluma political consultant. “Democrats are heading out of state to help elsewhere.”

While the Sonoma County Democratic Party is based in Santa Rosa, the local Hillary For America campaign chose Petaluma for its county headquarters, reopening an office used during the primary season on East Washington Street. The organization held its campaign kickoff event Oct. 19 with a debate watch party attended by about 50 volunteers, said Tiffany Renee, a former Petaluma City Councilwoman and Clinton supporter.

The office is coordinating with the Clinton campaign in San Francisco and has been focused on calling voters in states like Nevada, Ohio and Florida, encouraging them to get out the vote, Renee said.

“We’re confident that California and Sonoma County will go for Clinton,” she said. “We want to provide the resources to call critical battlegrounds.”

Trump does not have a dedicated presence in Petaluma, a city with a majority of registered Democrats in a liberal leaning county. The Sonoma County Republican Party, based in Santa Rosa, does have Petaluma residents on its central committee and has Petalumans working on phone banking from home, according to Edelwsiss Geary, chairman of the county Republican Party.

Geary said volunteers are working toward getting Republicans elected to state and local offices, including Charlie Schaupp, who is running for State Assembly. In the final weeks of the campaign, she said volunteers may make calls for Trump to voters in Nevada, considered a tossup state, but otherwise they are doing little campaigning for the presidential nominee locally.

“We’re trying to get out the Republican vote,” Geary said. “Probably people in this county have made up their mind. We’re not catching a lot of indecision.”

She said that Sonoma County has a fair share of Trump supporters, but they have chosen to stay less visible as the national race has taken a nasty turn. She said local Trump supporters have had yard signs stolen and have been accosted by Democrats.

“I get phone calls telling me how horrible he is,” she said. “At the same time, there are a lot of very mad people out there who are against Hillary Clinton’s lawlessness. But around here they are not coming out loud and clear for him. People are careful what they do.”

Neither candidate has invested many resources in California, which polls show will likely vote overwhelmingly for Clinton. The Democratic nominee has made a few stops in the state, mostly for fundraising. On one such visit to San Francisco two weeks ago, Renee said she met Clinton after she addressed volunteers at her Northern California headquarters.

“It was out of this world, really incredible,” she said of the meeting. “It was like meeting an old friend. I told her that I’ve been a fan of hers since the early ’90s. She got a kick out of that.”

Both parties are engaged in get-out-the-vote efforts, the last minute campaign work seen as critical to ensuring that support in the polls translates into votes at the ballot box.

The Hillary for America Petaluma office will be phone banking Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 to Nov. 8 at the office in Washington Square Shopping Center, Behind Staples. The office is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. To volunteer, visit hillaryclinton.com/events.

Volunteers for the Sonoma County Republican Party will be calling voters starting Nov. 5 at their headquarters, 1421 Guerneville Road, Suite 110, in Santa Rosa. To volunteer, visit sonomacountygop.org or call 542-7066.

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)