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Ahead of the November election, the Democratic Volunteer Center has officially opened in Mountain View with the aim of getting more Democratic candidates elected to office.
Located in a former REI store, the volunteer center drew a crowd of local leaders to Charleston Plaza Saturday morning, Aug. 15, that included former U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo. She kicked off the grand opening with a speech that emphasized unity and the shared values of democracy.
“We are all about people that believe in a more perfect union,’” Eshoo said. “We will return to that … We say one thing – vote.”
Founded in 2010, the Democratic Volunteer Center is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that seeks to boost voter turnout in key races across the country. In recent years, the organization has had a big presence in Mountain View, setting up field offices in 2022 and 2024 ahead of national elections.
Charleston Plaza is an ideal site for the center, according to KJ Janowski, DVC board chair. It is located near U.S. Highway 101 and highly accessible, drawing volunteers from Redwood City to Cupertino, she said.
Some of the activities available to volunteers include phone banking, postcard and letter writing and organizing door-to-door canvassing. The center will also serve as a hub for political events, Janowski said.
This year, the organization is seeking to mobilize enough voters to flip control of the U.S. Congress. Currently, Republicans hold a slim majority in the House and Senate.
“I’m excited about what we’re going to do in every single state,” Eshoo said, adding that the goal is to turn President Donald Trump into “the biggest lame duck there ever was.”
On Saturday, local volunteers were already getting down to business. Ruth Vranas, a Mountain View resident, spent the morning signing up volunteers to carpool and take buses to canvas in tight races in the Central Valley.
“The more people who vote, the more we are supporting democracy,” Vranas said.
A few feet away, Tai Ford, a student at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, was writing postcards in support of a Democratic candidate. Ford’s mother noted this was their first time participating in one of the center’s events. A friend had encouraged them to attend, she said.
Other volunteers headed to the building’s second floor where about two dozen booths were set up to accommodate phone banks. A few sat down in front of laptops to learn the ropes.
Phone banking is one of the most effective ways to reach voters, Janowski said. In 2024, volunteers participated in 125 phone banks at the center. They also sent more than 100,000 postcards and letters to swing states and districts and got 200 people on buses to canvas in Reno, Nevada, according to the DVC website.
Janowski said she would like to see even more volunteers come through the center’s doors this election cycle.
“We’ve seen thousands and thousands of people locally at ‘No Kings’ protests,” she said. “I’m hoping that a lot of people will be willing to turn that energy into actions that can have an impact.”
Information about the Democratic Volunteer Center, including a schedule of upcoming events and activities, is on the organization’s website.
