ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Democrats have a place to gather and receive campaign resources in Belmont County following the opening of a new Democratic Party headquarters on Monday.

The Belmont County Democratic Party opened its campaign headquarters Monday afternoon at 110 W. Main St. in St. Clairsville with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Area residents gathered on Main Street as the committee celebrated the opening with the cutting of a blue ribbon.

The office is set to be open 1-5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with some extended evening hours from 4-7 p.m. People can learn more by calling Secretary Carol Campbell at 740-676-7417 or Chairman Phil Wallace at 740-296-0011.

“We’re very excited,” Campbell said. “I think the Democratic Party as a whole is very excited. There’s been a renewal in interest. And we usually depend on our committee persons or elected committee persons and advisory committee members to do the chores for us, help us with all our activities, but we’ve had people actually calling us and saying, ‘I want to help.'”

The committee consists of 35-40 people, some of whom are elected committee members, advisory committee members and volunteers to the advisory committee. The committee gave out campaign signs, cookies, pins, flyers and stickers to attendees who wanted them.

The committee will serve as a resource for Democrats in Belmont County, Campbell said.

“They can come here and get information they need about any of our local candidates,” she said. “They can help us promote these candidates by posting signs in their yards, campaign signs or along their streets, whatever is appropriate to do.”

Campbell hopes that the committee doesn’t run into any issues with people stealing or defaming political signs. That is illegal, she said, and noted she hopes the office is a good place to remind people of that.

“People work hard to put those out and get the names out of our local candidates and the presidential candidates,” she said, “and we hope that the signs are safe and sound.”

Campbell wants the office to help people become better-informed voters.

Wallace said the party offers signs to put in yards in support of Democratic candidates, such as presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is seeking re-election.

“It’s important because the county has kind of turned red on us,” he said, “and we want to return to the blue and Democrat and take the Democrat offices back again.”

At the opening, Campbell stressed the importance of Issue One, which is a campaign to end gerrymandering – “an occasion when someone in authority changes the borders of an area in order to increase the number of people within that area who will vote for a particular party or person,” according to the Cambridge Dictionary.

Jason Troyan, who was there to speak on behalf of Issue One, stressed the importance he believes Issue One holds.

“We want to encourage everyone to vote ‘yes’ on Issue One,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat, Republican or Independent. This isn’t about politics, this is about putting power back in the hands of the people.”

St. Clairsville resident Nancy Rice was at the building to celebrate the opening. Rice emphasized that she believes in what the committee stands for.

“I love it,” Rice said. “It’s a good place for us to feel like we belong somewhere.”

The committee will be holding a dinner at Undo’s West in St. Clairsville on Sept. 26. Tickets can be purchased by calling Campbell or Wallace.

“This is a great situation, because we want to make everybody in Belmont County know that we Democrats are ready to fight for the election in November,” Wallace said.