Ben Cantu is the first candidate ever to campaign for elected office in Manteca to open a storefront campaign headquarters.Cantu — who has emerged as the only challenger so far to incumbent Mayor Steve DeBrum’s re-election bid on Nov. 6 — has established a campaign headquarters at 237 East Yosemite Ave.No one else in the 100-year history of Manteca politics has ever opened a campaign storefront.“I’m stepping up my campaign a notch or two,” Cantu said, adding there will be a heavier emphasis on grassroots campaigning.Cantu plans to use the space for town hall meetings, conducting phone banks, a meeting place for neighborhood canvassers, for volunteers to prepare mailers, and what he hopes to be an election night victory party. Campaign manager David Cushman — who was an opponent of Cantu’s in the 2016 council election won by Gary Singh and Denny Moorhead — indicated 50 volunteers have already stepped up to work on phone banks.It is just one of several things that Cantu is doing differently this time around. The retired city planner who now has a land use planning business has hired a political campaign consulting firm, has started placing his signs seven months in advance of the election, and a significantly heavier social media presence.Dauntless Communications — the Roseville-based firm Cantu has retained to assist with his campaign — has worked with clients such as the Sacramento Taxpayers Association and the Stanislaus County Republican Party among others.Cushman said he sees eye-to-eye with Cantu on a number of issues and that they worked together during the 2019 campaign.