Matsui, Vang clash in bitter race for California’s 7th District seat. What to know

Rep. Doris Matsui and Sacramento Councilmember Mai Vang are locked in an acrid congressional race in California, with disputes over attendance, endorsements and ICE funding dominating the final weeks. Here’s a look at the main flashpoints between the two Democrats competing for the Sacramento-area 7th Congressional District seat.

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Here are key takeaways:

• Political analysts say Matsui is “definitely concerned” about the race, pointing to campaign shakeups, a flood of attack ads and nearly $7 million in self-funding as signs she sees Vang as a serious threat to a seat her family has held for nearly 50 years.
• A Matsui campaign ad features local politicians, including Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen, calling for Vang to be “fired, not promoted” over her attendance at regional board meetings — a claim Vang’s backers call misleading given she was assigned to 16 boards in 2024.
• The Matsui campaign escalated the attendance fight by filing a public records request seeking Vang’s committee preference forms, which campaign manager Bill Wong said would show “proof of Mai Vang’s excuse” for missing meetings.
• Progressive streamer Hasan Piker rallied with Vang at Southside Park, where he has helped raise $91,000 for her campaign and drew a record turnout of more than 200 people to a Sac DSA canvassing event.
• Councilmember Lisa Kaplan, who is Jewish, publicly blasted Vang’s fundraiser with Piker, citing his history of commentary that critics including the Anti-Defamation League have called antisemitic and misogynistic.
• Matsui now says she opposes any ICE funding and calls the agency a “rogue, paramilitary force.” But her voting record from 2019 to 2024 shows she backed five spending packages that included nearly $42 billion for ICE, along with other establishment Democrats — a contrast Vang has used to position herself as the true progressive.
• Matsui’s campaign has attacked Vang over corporate donations she accepted during past council races, including $400 from PG&E and about $8,000 from local casinos, despite Vang’s pledge to reject corporate PAC money in her congressional bid.
• Republican Sacramento State student Zachariah Wooden and primary challenger was thrust into the spotlight after Matsui’s website spotlighted him as a “MAGA Republican” threat. She and Vang traded barbs in the primary over the move, which Wooden characterized as both Democrats using him “for political effect.”