San Francisco political organizer to send volunteers to Nevada

A Bay Area political organizer hopes to raise hundreds of thousands to send more than 400 people to Nevada to knock on doors and rally supporters for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Manny Yekutiel said that with 40 days left until election day, he hopes to garner enough support for Harris and vice presidential nominee Tim Waltz.

“Donald Trump could be our next president. He could win this election, and I don’t want to wake up on November 6 and think, what could I have done,” Yekutiel said. ‘I am firing on all cylinders.”

He added that in order to do so, he is raising $340,000 to send volunteers starting October 11.

In the four weekends leading up to November 5, Yekutiel will send close to 100 volunteers every weekend.

‘We have to do something. We have forty days until this election is over, and this is something very concrete that we can do,” he said.

Key swing states, like Nevada, have been determined by razor-thin margins in recent presidential elections, so this could all depend on who has the better ground operations.

According to an opinion issued by the Federal Elections Commission earlier this year, candidates and outside groups are allowed to work closely, though not fully coordinated, on voter turnout.

It’s something local Republicans admit the Democratic party has been more successful at.

“I think on the national level, I’m concerned about that advantage. On the other hand, I think President Trump is doing a pretty good job, and I think he’s going to pull it out in the end,” said John Dennis, the San Francisco GOP chair.

Dennis said the SF GOP is focused on local races, citing a shift in his more than 15 years with the county Republican party.

“In my time, we have more candidates on the ballot in San Francisco county for offices than I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Neild Park-McClintick of Silicon Valley Rising said the issue is not necessarily who to vote for but getting more people to vote.

“We have to bring more voters from our diverse communities to make sure that who’s in office, and the issues that are selected by voters too. The propositions that pass match what our community looks like,” Park-McClintick said.