Northern California Democrats are stifling needed generational change | Opinion
In Northern California, Interstate 80 is the corridor that has long connected Sacramento to San Francisco while winding through a region known for cutting-edge technology and for constantly reinventing itself.
However, in politics, the I-80 corridor represents an aversion to change, new ideas and a reluctance by the three leading congressional Democrats, octogenarians all, to yield to a new generation of leaders.
Experience and seniority among Northern California’s congressional leaders were valuable assets when Democrats had any power, but now they have none. Democrats are unpopular like never before, and, politically speaking, the I-80 corridor exemplfies why change within the party is slow to happen.
For a region accustomed to being known for innovation, we’re on the outside looking in. And the view isn’t pretty.
Doris Matsui, and the top-tier opponent
Bob Matsui, who served Sacramento in Congress for 26 years until he succumbed to cancer in January 2005, had a remarkable combination of smarts and caution. As I started to get to know him in the 1990s, on occasion we would lunch at Andiamo, a long-gone Italian restaurant on Folsom Boulevard. There, he would sit in the corner booth opposite the entrance so he could survey the entire room as he detailed his mastery of flood control politics and emerging tax policies on his Ways and Means Committee.
His wife, Doris, replaced him in Congress in a special election that March, entering politics when most are approaching retirement. Now, one Matsui or another has represented Sacramento for nearly half a century. In her 20th year of service, Doris Matsui will run for re-election next year when she will be 82.
If Matsui thought her fellow Democrats would clear the field yet again for another easy race to return to Washington, she was mistaken. Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang, 40, one of the rising progressive voices in the region, is making all the not-so-private rumblings to formally announce her candidacy later this month.
Nearly half a century has passed since the Matsui seat has seen a spirited race here in Sacramento, and Vang will offer a clear contrast to the long-time incumbent. For the I-80 corridor, this represents a break from the traditions of elections being more like coronations. Matsui will have tradition, name recognition, incumbency and her record of steady service. But Vang undoubtedly will seek unscripted public debates with Matsui, where voters can directly ask their questions of the candidates. Matsui has steadfastly avoided town hall formats and simply cannot avoid them any longer.
John Garamendi, a California constant
I first met John Garamendi in 1980 during my college years as a summer scribe for the Daily Union Democrat in Sonora. Garamendi was a young (mid-30s) state senator representing this stretch of the Sierra. It was a far more moderate era before the mountains turned a solid red in their politics, a trend that forced Garamendi to move to the flats for political survival.
Running for one office or another for more than half a century, Garamendi now represents California’s 8th Congressional District and the I-80 corridor from Richmond to the southern outskirts of Vacaville.
Garamendi, now 80, announced last year that he had begun treatments to combat multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, and vowed to stay in public service. “I am confident that the treatments will be effective, allowing me to continue serving impacted families and my constituents in Congress for years to come,” he said at the time.
He has held to that word. Garamendi hopes to celebrate his 83rd birthday three weeks after being sworn back into office in January of 2027. This may be what Garamendi wants for himself, but it’s not the best option for Democratic voters frustrated with an unpopular party resistant to needed generational change.
Nancy Pelosi, the mysterious matriarch
In San Francisco, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, has announced he will run for Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat — in 2028. The maneuver reflects the respect and reverence San Francisco politics has long given to Pelosi, who is nothing short of a legend in how she became the country’s first female speaker of the House of Representatives and led the expansion of health care for millions of Americans under the first term of President Barack Obama.
It was Pelosi who, after the most disastrous presidential debate performance in history, led the move to maneuver Joe Biden out of his race for re-election and to position another famous San Franciscan, Kamala Harris, to run instead. Yet now it is Pelosi’s turn to face the question of age.
If Pelosi is re-elected in 2026, her 21st election, she woud be 88 at the conclusion of her two-year term. Wiener is 55.
Pelosi has filed the federal paperwork to run again next year, but has not formally announced her candidacy.
The former speaker fell and broke her hip last year in Luxembourg. Her great longtime ally in the Senate, the late Dianne Feinstein, ran one too many times, dying in office. Feinstein was a giant of the Senate, and it was painful to watch her in her final years.
Pelosi, like former mayor/Assembly speaker Willie Brown, will stay powerful in San Francisco even after leaving office. This city gets a deeper political bench the sooner she steps down and a new Democrat begins to learn the ropes in Washington. If anything, this succession would elevate Pelosi’s power and standing as one of the city’s greatest political leaders ever.
When new ideas matter more than experience
A continent away in New York, a powerful congressman of 34 years doesn’t want to be another 80-something who is slowing down change. Democrat Jerry Nadler, 78, announced he would not run in 2026.
Nadler wouldn’t name names to the New York Times. But he suggested that some of his fellow Democrats of similar age leave Washington as well.
““I’m not saying we should change over the entire party,” he said. “But I think a certain amount of change is very helpful, especially when we face the challenge of Trump and his incipient fascism.”
Here along the I-80 corridor, until the new generation replaces our veteran leaders of the I-80 corridor, this vital section of Northern California is in the back seat of American politics if voters simply choose to go along for the ride.
This story was originally published September 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM.