Your guide to California’s 7th Congressional District primary race
A pillar of the Democratic establishment is facing her toughest primary challenger in years in the race for California’s 7th Congressional District.
U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui has represented the district, which includes much of Sacramento’s downtown core, for 21 years without much of a struggle to retain the seat. This year, she is battling against Sacramento Councilmember Mai Vang who is part of a wave of progressive younger candidates trying to unseat longtime Democratic incumbents across the state. While there are other candidates in the race, they have raised small amounts of money compared to Matsui and Vang.
Like many congressional districts across California, the boundaries of the 7th District have changed following Proposition 50, though it remains a left-leaning seat.
Where Is The District?
The new 7th District encompasses El Dorado Hills and Placerville to the north to Lodi and Linden to the south. Other major areas in the district include Galt, Elk Grove and several capital region neighborhoods including Campus Commons, Oak Park, south Sacramento and the city’sdowntown core.
Proposition 50, a voter-approved initiative that redrew California’s congressional boundaries to favor Democrats, eliminated West Sacramento, Lemon Hill, Florin, East Sacramento and Isleton from the district.
Who Are The Candidates?
Matsui, 81, has served in the House since 2005 when she succeeded her husband Robert who served from 1979 until his death from cancer. She is the daughter of Japanese Americans who were detained in an internment camp during World War II and grew up on a farm in the Central Valley. Before running for Congress, Matsui was chairwoman of the board for Sacramento public television station KVIE. She is now a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a member of the Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee. Over the last few months, Matsui has secured Democrat establishment support including Gov. Gavin Newsom, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Her website emphasizes her work on securing funding for flood protection, transportation projects and expanding healthcare access.
Vang, 41, has represented the 8th District of the Sacramento City Council since 2020. She is the daughter of Hmong refugees from Laos and the eldest of 16 children. Vang has cemented herself as the most progressive member on the council by pushing to scale back funding away from the Police Department and to youth and homeless resources. Last year, she declined a salary raise and redirected the funds back into her south Sacramento district to “better support community needs. She is also a lecturer in the Ethnic Studies Department of Sacramento State. Her website lists some of her top issues as championing Medicare-For-All, building affordable housing, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and taxing billionaires “to pay their fair share.” Vang has pledged not to accept campaign donations from corporate political action committees.
Who Is Funding The Races?
Matsui leads in overall fundraising, though Vang has made some major strides in the time since she’s announced.
Matsui has raised about $746,000 during all of 2025. Many of her largest contributions came from political action committees such as American Society of Health System Pharmacist, American Crystal Sugar Company and Verizon Communications Inc. Her campaign team said earlier this month that Matsui had raised more than $560,000 in the first quarter of 2026.
Vang has raised nearly $283,000 in 2025, but she did not launch her campaign until September. Her contributions come from a mix of political action committees and individual donations. One of Vang’s top contributors was ActBlue, a Democratic Party political action committee.
The filing deadline campaign fundraising from Jan. 1 to March 31 is Wednesday.
