Why Elk Grove should care about Rep. Doris Matsui of Sacramento and her new district
Rep. Doris Matsui grabbed a seat at the head of the Elk Grove city bus, ready with plenty of questions for her hosts.
Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, Vice Mayor Darren Suen and a handful of senior city employees were eager to show the congresswoman the sights — new projects here, plans for others there — District 56, the city’s complex of community, senior and aquatic centers, an elementary school under construction, tractor manufacturer Kubota Co.’s planned new headquarters, the land where city leaders hope a new regional zoo will be built.
“I want to know what your vision is so we can connect the dots,” Rep. Matsui, D-Sacramento, told the Elk Grove officials during the tour on a recent Thursday. “It’s exciting. I have 200,000 new residents.”
Matsui, who has represented Sacramento in the House of Representatives for the past 16 years, gained Elk Grove in her district through California’s once-a-decade redrawing of boundaries for political offices. California lost a congressional seat this year, reflecting the state’s slowed population growth. It still has the largest delegation in the House, with 52 members.
Matsui’s newly redrawn district encompasses Elk Grove and extends from Sacramento east to Rancho Murieta, then south to Galt and the Delta.
That’s why Elk Grove’s mayor put in a call to the congresswoman, and why Matsui had a front-row seat on a bright Thursday morning.
“It’s important to get an up close and personal experience with Elk Grove. It’s important to get the layout of our city,” Mayor Singh-Allen said, remarking on how Elk Grove Democrat Rep. Ami Bera advocated for the city when he represented it.
“They’re moving. They’re a community. They work together, I love that. And they support each other,” Matsui said as she walked through Old Town at the end of the tour. “It’s a very fresh city with a lot of historical elements that they want to preserve in the best possible way. I’ve been in the city of Sacramento for a very long time and I love it there, it’s a part of my life and my history. This is too, now.”
Matsui campaign consultant Roger Salazar recently told The Bee that Matsui “has strong relationships” with voters in communities in the new district.
Continuing and extending that relationship with Matsui will be important to Elk Grove. She sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and serves on subcommittees for health, energy, communications and technology.
Facing a challenge from a Democrat
She is running for re-election to the seat she has held since 2006, the year after husband and longtime Sacramento congressman Bob Matsui passed away in 2005. She has won every race in her Sacramento district by 70% of the vote.
The congresswoman faces an underdog competitor from the left in Jimmy Fremgen, a 33-year-old former policy aide to Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, and Santa Rosa native.
Fremgen contends incumbent Matsui “has forgotten average Sacramentans” during the pandemic, is too close to corporate interests and pledged to be “deeply active in my district.”
On the bus, Matsui talked about a spending bill she and other Democrats hope to push through Congress that contains infrastructure spending like the type Bera has called for.
“We have to get that done,” Matsui said.
Elk Grove’s transportation projects, COVID money
Lawmakers can be important allies for local governments trying to accomplish big infrastructure plans.
Two major infrastructure projects are underway or on the drawing board in Elk Grove: the 34-mile Capital Southeast Connector linking Highway 50 to Interstate 5. Road crews just wrapped up work on the section of Grant Line from Waterman Road to Bradshaw Road that widened the stretch to four lanes.
The proposed Elk Grove Station planned for Laguna Boulevard and Dwight Road is part of San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission’s $1 billion Valley Rail Extension Project connecting its passenger rail service from Stockton to Sacramento. The project and proposed site in west Elk Grove are targeted for 2023.
Last June, Bera and Elk Grove officials met at the city’s just-built Old Town Plaza as lawmakers in Washington, D.C., worked to pass an infrastructure spending package.
There, Bera got a tour of proposed improvements to the historic east side district and gave a progress report on the $2 million in federal dollars the Elk Grove Democrat requested for the city’s streetscape plan.
Sewer, gas, telecommunications and street improvements extending east along Elk Grove Boulevard toward Waterman Road are part of the plan to support future development along the corridor.
As spending talks continue in the nation’s capital, Elk Grove also will soon determine how it will allocate the second tranche of its $22 million federal COVID relief package. Elk Grove received just north of $10.9 million in June 2021. Another $10.9 million will arrive this May, part of the federal $1.9 trillion package signed by President Joe Biden last March to address the economic and public impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Finance staff in February presented spending recommendations to Elk Grove City Council including nearly $3.8 million for storm drain improvements for the city’s Southeast Industrial Area — the industrial park and future Kubota Tractor Co. regional headquarters; as well as $1.3 million in business broadband improvements.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 5:25 AM.
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