Primary 2026: Matsui, Vang appear headed for general election showdown in CA 7th District
Rep. Doris Matsui and Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang appear headed for a November showdown in California’s 7th Congressional District, according to early election returns.
As of 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, Matsui led the race with about 32.6% percentage of votes counted, while Vang had captured about 25.7%.
Zachariah Wooden, a Republican college student, trailed only slightly behind with 22.6% percentage of the vote. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election.
Vang and Matsui had long been expected to claim those two spots.
Matsui, a pillar of the Democratic establishment, has represented the Sacramento region district since 2005 when she succeeded her husband Robert after his death from cancer.
Vang, who has served on Sacramento City Council since 2020, emerged as Matsui’s most formidable primary challenger in years. She is part of a wave of progressive younger candidates trying to oust longtime and more moderate Democratic incumbents in safe blue seats across the country.
The contest has grown increasingly bitter in recent weeks.
Vang and her supporters criticized Matsui’s immigration voting record, highlighted her history of accepting corporate donations and accused her of elevating Republican candidate Wooden on her campaign website.
Matsui’s campaign countered by attacking Vang for accepting corporate contributions from Sacramento-area businesses during her City Council campaigns and for benefiting from spending by out-of-state super political action committees. Vang also faced criticism in conservative media outlets over her longstanding practice of abstaining from the Pledge of Allegiance in council meetings.
Around 7:20 p.m., dozens of supporters applauded Matsui’s entrance to her election night party at Sellands Cafe & Bar on Broadway. Among them were several of Sacramento’s most well known faces including Mayor Kevin McCarty, former Mayor Darrell Steinberg, City Council members Phil Pluckebaum and Roger Dickinson and Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper. Matsui had previously received endorsements from many of the region’s politicians, including the majority of the Sacramento City Council.
In her comments to the crowd, Matsui thanked her supporters and emphasized her experience is needed to push back against President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“I’ve negotiated this chaos through the Trump administration, and I know how to negotiate the chaos moving forward too,” Matsui said. She also referenced the “negativity” of advertisements during this election cycle, though she declined to say if she felt Vang’s campaign had gone over the line.
“The reason why that I had to get involved in trying to even use my own personal money is because the negativity and the dark money was coming and criticizing me,” she said.
Matsui left the party shortly after her remarks, headed back to Washington, D.C., for an anticipated House vote on the war in Iran.
At her election night party, meanwhile, Vang deemed the early results as a sign that she would advance to the November general election. She celebrated alongside more than a hundred supporters who enjoyed drinks and a DJ at The Lock & Key Tapas + Bar in Midtown, at a lively joint party with Sacramento Board of Supervisors candidate Flo Cofer. “I’m very confident that we’re going to remain top two, no matter what the outcome,” Vang said. Vang also said the results were a sign that the region is ready for change. She bashed establishment Democrats and Republicans who don’t pass the “torch.” “For far too long, the establishment has ignored our working families and so we’re going to stay focused on the issue,” she said.
The 7th District stretches from El Dorado Hills and Placerville to the north to Lodi and Linden to the south. It also encompasses Galt, Elk Grove and several capital region neighborhoods including Campus Commons, Oak Park, south Sacramento and the city’s downtown 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.
This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 8:39 PM.
