Inside the shuttered Nordstrom Rack in downtown San Francisco, the crowd booed and laughed as former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris sparred in their first — and potentially only — debate Tuesday night.
Surrounded by political posters and full-length mirrors at the department store-turned campaign office, voters and officials were jubilant as Trump launched into a tirade about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating peoples’ pets, called Harris a “Marxist,” and grew flustered when the vice president mocked the crowd sizes at his rallies.
“He’s taking the bait,” San Francisco Democratic Party Chair Nancy Tung said. “She’s crushing him.”
Party organizers said some 300 people showed up to watch the debate.
Standing in front of a “Kamala’s Kantina” bar stocked with cookies and bottled water set up on what was once the store’s checkout counter, Tung said Harris will resonate with Americans more than Trump thanks to her long career in public office.
“Politics is about contrast, and Trump and Harris couldn’t be more different,” Tung said. “He’s served himself his whole life. Harris has served the public her whole life.”
The local Democratic Party recently set up shop in the former Nordstrom Rack at the corner of 5th and Market streets to organize volunteers working to elect a former San Francisco district attorney as the next president.
Harris’ Tuesday night performance, which was widely seen as successful, follows President Joe Biden’s disastrous showing in a June debate, which prompted him to exit the presidential race.
“She’s fabulous,” said Albany resident Eleanor Moses. “She drove down on the facts, and she’s representing the people. Trump’s comments are so off the wall.”
State Sen. Scott Wiener put it a little more bluntly, saying Harris “kicked his rear end.” He added, “She called him out for his BS over and over, especially how Trump is the reason Roe v. Wade no longer exists. It was really powerful.”
When Harris said “Donald Trump should not be telling women what to do with their bodies,” audience members, many of them women, erupted into applause.
Andrea Henderson, 47, who was visiting from Denver for an Airbnb conference, said “It’s just amazing. She’s calling out his BS, his lies.”
The GOP watch party, or at least the tail end of it, was comparatively tame when The Standard dropped by the back room of Haight Street sports bar Mad Dog in the Fog, where around 50 people sat with their eyes glued to six TVs lining the walls, munching on buffalo wings and french fries.
Julian Goduci, 60, rebuked criticisms of Trump delivering rambling responses, saying that the former president stayed on message.
“Trump was way better than Kamala,” Goduci said. “He brought up the economy, the border, rising prices, all the issues people care about.”
Christian Waters, a veteran studying at California College of the Arts, said he felt Trump appeared natural during the televised debate, pointing to the former president’s frequent media appearances during his campaign.
“I think Trump did a good job,” Waters said.
“For him to counter all the lies Kamala was spewing, he didn’t get enough time to talk about his policies,” he added, referring to when Harris tied Trump to Project 2025, the blueprint for a Republican presidential takeover organized by the Heritage Foundation.
Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, claiming to know nothing about the plan or its creators. However, several of his former advisers were involved in creating it, and the 900-page document aligns with his policies.
While Trump spent much of the debate on defense, San Francisco GOP Chairman John Dennis said he believes the former president’s performance will help his campaign.
“I think Trump did really well,” Dennis said. “I think he’ll get a bump in polling after this.”