How low will Doris Matsui go to beat Mai Vang? She’s elevating a Republican | Opinion
Sacramento Rep. Doris Matsui is doing everything she can to cling to power, including taking out a $1.4 million loan for her campaign and elevating a Republican opponent because Matsui is clearly afraid of the first serious Democrat she has faced in 20 years of easy elections against lightweight candidates
The 81-year-old incumbent, who has served Sacramento in Congress since 2005, has steadfastly refused to appear alone in a debate setting with challenger Mai Vang, who serves on the Sacramento City Council and who has raised more than $800,000 in contributions.
In a June 2 election that is only days away, it’s hard to know what Matsui’s campaign behavior will mean in an election where most people in Sacramento County and California at large haven’t yet voted. Maybe Matsui’s campaign is just politics as usual. Or maybe Matsui is panicking.
I’m betting on the latter. The 7th Congressional District that Matsui represents is comprised of nearly 30% Republicans, 42% Democrats and 21% independents with no party preference, according to the latest statistics from the California Secretary of State. The district favors Democrats but, since being redrawn by the passage of Proposition 50, it includes El Dorado Hills, Placerville, and Lodi.
These more conservative communities are undoubtedly why Matsui is trying to elevate Zachariah Wooden, a young Republican who apparently didn’t have any campaign money or name recognition until Matsui began giving him the latter.
Matsui’s campaign website is touting Wooden as “the strongest Republican in the June 2 primary.” And a union that has contributed money to Matsui in the past has formed a political committee to get Wooden’s name in wider circulation through digital ads, a political reporter for Axios, Andrew Solender, has revealed.
Our McClatchy California editorial board interviewed Wooden. He’s a nice young guy who is not remotely qualified to serve in Congress.
So why would a longtime Democrat like Matsui be spotlighting a previously little-known Republican opponent? Publicly, of course, Matsui would say she’s out to spotlight Wooden as a pro-Donald Trump Republican.
But Matsui’s elevating of Wooden might also snag independent voters away from Vang. And if enough Republicans vote for no-name to now-named Wooden in the June Primary, he might make for an ideal opponent for Matsui in November — should she be one of the top two vote getters on June 2.
Given Matsui’s play to Republicans, it was not surprising at all to see a story in the conservative press over the weekend questioning Vang’s patriotism. You see, at Sacramento council meetings, Vang prays during the Pledge of Allegiance. She’s done this for a while now, it’s not a secret, and it’s not a sign of anything but an American exercising her right of free speech and expression. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently upheld the idea that we as Americans have the freedom to recite the pledge or not.
But this isn’t even the point. The point here is that the longest serving politician in Sacramento has run a campaign of deception and obfuscation. Matsui was the only frontline Democrat or Republican who refused to participate in The Bee’s endorsement interviews.
Rep. Ami Bera sat with us for an hour. So did Rep. Kevin Kiley. So did every other local and legislative candidate running for office. When you consider this, and that Matsui will only appear at heavily scripted events that do not require her to give extemporaneous answers, voters should ask themselves a simple question, “Why?”
Why is she elevating a Republican? Why does a sleazy story about Vang’s patriotism suddenly appear in the conservative press days before the election?
I don’t have proof that Matsui’s camp planted the story, and I’m not saying they did.
But, regardless, the campaign Matsui is responsible for has been odious.
