Just in time for the big Harris-Trump debate Tuesday, the new campaign headquarters of the San Francisco Democratic Party is opening at Fifth and Market streets, in the former Nordstrom Rack store.

As the Chronicle reports, there will be a watch party for the debate tomorrow in what was the shoe section of Nordstrom Rack (1390 Market Street), until the store closed when Nordstrom vacated their larger store across the street last year. And phone-banking is going to start at the campaign headquarters at 4 pm Wednesday — with volunteers using their own laptops and cellphones to make cold calls to support both Harris, and a couple of key Central Valley congressional races where the Dems are hoping to pick up seats in November.

Nancy Tung, chair of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, tells the Chronicle that volunteers seem eager to gather and do phone-banking work — even though the same work could be done from their homes. And this space will have room to accommodate 1,000 or more volunteers at a time.

"There is so much energy around the presidential election because Kamala Harris is a Bay Area native that I thought it was important for people to have space to come together," Tung tells the paper. She says she's hoping for a "if you build it, they will come" effect.

The new campaign headquarters will open Tuesday with a rally at 4:30 pm. The debate begins at 6 pm PT, and is expected to wrap up by 8 or 8:30 pm.

Phone-banking for Democrats hoping to win seats in California's 13th and 22nd congressional districts will also begin in earnest this week, and the DCCC will be sponsoring bus trips to the Central Valley this fall for volunteers to go door-knocking as well.

The 13th Congressional District is represented by Republican John Duarte, who was elected in 2022. But since redistricting in 2021, in which parts of Alameda County moved into what's now the 12th District, this district covering all of Merced County and parts of Stanislaus, Fresno, Madera, and San Joaquin countis, is considered a Democrat-leaning swing district.

Meanwhile, California's 22nd District, which was part of a redistricting in 2021, is the most Democrat-leaning district in the country that is currently led by a Republican. Rep. David Valadao formerly represented California's 21st District, and the new district, which covers part of Bakersfield and areas to the north, would have gone for Joe Biden in 2020 had it existed in its current configuration, according to the Cook Political Report.

For now, volunteer hours at the Market Street campaign headquarters will be from 4 pm to 8 pm, but hours are expected to ramp up in the coming weeks.

Tung says that high school students are also free to volunteer, and will receive training in phone-banking.

Photo via Google Street View