By admin 
Rep. Doris Matsui’s campaign appeared to endorse a call to deport her congressional opponent Mai Vang by reacting with a heart emoji on a Facebook message — the campaign has since called it accidental.
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The campaign deleted the message and its reaction on Wednesday afternoon after questions from The Sacramento Bee. The message was on a Nov. 4 Facebook post from the Matsui campaign, in which the congresswoman thanked her supporters following election night.
“Congrats Doris Matsui!!” said one male commenter. “PLEASE DEPORT Mai Vang ASAP!!!”
Below the message, the man included a link to an opinion column from the California Globe, a right-center news outlet according to media watchdog site Media Bias/Fact Check, that criticized Vang for her refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Vang, who was born in the U.S. and has two brothers serving in the U.S. military, faced repeated attacks about her longstanding practice throughout the election cycle.
The man’s message received two heart emojis, one of which came from the Matsui campaign Facebook page. The post has more than 80 comments, with only some that have reactions from the campaign.
Roger Salazar, a senior adviser for the Matsui campaign, said Wednesday that the Facebook reaction was “clearly accidental and not intentional.” The message is now deleted.
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“Of course we don’t condone that type of language,” Salazar said in a written statement.
The removal of the comment comes one day after the Associated Press called the Sacramento region 7th Congressional District race in favor of Matsui. The contest was a contentious, generational and intra-party battle between Matsui, who has represented the region since 2005, and Vang, a progressive member of the Sacramento City Council.
The latest results have Matsui leading Vang 53.3% to 46.7% in the 7th District. That margin is expected to narrow in the coming days after more ballots from Sacramento County are counted.
The 7th District consists of parts of Sacramento, San Joaquin and El Dorado counties. Major cities in the district include Sacramento, Lodi, Placerville and Elk Grove.
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This story was originally published November 11, 2026 at 5:00 PM.