# United States Representative, District 7 Compare records and positions simply between Mai Vang or Doris Matsui for United States Representative, District 7 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (2-year term). - Jurisdiction: Federal - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-7 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 24, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 99 out of 100 (Very strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Mai Vang** — Teacher/City Councilmember · Democratic - **Doris Matsui** — U.S. Representative · Democratic The sitting member finished second. Mai Vang led the June 2 primary with 31.2% and Representative Doris Matsui, who has held this seat since 2005, took 29.1% — a 2.1-point deficit for a twenty-one-year incumbent. Both are Democrats, so November is a same-party contest. The district covers Sacramento. The winner holds one of 435 seats in the U.S. House for a two-year term. A member introduces bills, sits on committees that shape federal legislation, votes on the federal budget and on war powers, and handles casework between constituents and federal agencies. Seniority governs committee standing, and two decades of it is a substantial asset for a district. With two Democrats on the ballot, party is not the axis, and the June result reframes everything else: a twenty-one-year member of Congress with 6 career laws and three times the money finished second. Weigh the value of deep seniority — which is real and which this district would lose — against a primary electorate that has just signalled it is willing to give it up. ## Mai Vang Mai Vang is a Sacramento city councilmember, first elected to the council in December 2020. This is their first run for federal office (CapRadio). They previously worked as a teacher. They led the June 2026 primary against twenty-one-year incumbent Doris Matsui by about two points. Both candidates advanced to a same-party November runoff (CapRadio). At an August 27, 2026 debate, Vang said, "If seniority would have saved us, we wouldn't be here today under the Trump" administration. They argued that "the lives of people in our region haven't gotten better" despite Matsui's tenure (CapRadio). They have also criticized Matsui for accepting donations from defense contractors, prison contractors and Israel-linked funds. They said that money has slowed action on Palestine, Iran and ICE detention centers (CapRadio). Vang promises free health care and refuses corporate campaign contributions. They support abolishing ICE. They frame their campaign as a more confrontational alternative to their opponent's approach to the current administration (CapRadio). **Strengths:** A sitting city councilmember who outpolled a twenty-one-year member of Congress in the June primary, running on refusing corporate donations. **Trade-offs:** No record in federal office, and Vang's sharpest attack on Matsui's donors went unanswered directly when Matsui said she didn't recognize them. **Keep in mind:** Vang argues seniority hasn't delivered for this district. Whether a first term would do differently is the choice voters face in November. ## Doris Matsui Doris Matsui, a Democrat, has represented this Sacramento district since 2005. She won a special election that year after the death of her husband, Robert Matsui, who had held the seat before her. Together, the Matsui family has represented Sacramento in Congress for nearly five decades (CapRadio). She sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and on the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents (House.gov). She has authored the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2025 and the bipartisan 988 Implementation Act, which supports crisis-care infrastructure (House.gov). At an August 27, 2026 debate, Matsui told her opponent, "You really have to build the relationships and build coalitions to do this," pointing to the federal funding she has secured for regional infrastructure and flood protection (CapRadio). Her opponent said Matsui had accepted donations from defense contractors, prison contractors and Israel-linked funds. Matsui responded, "I don't even know what companies you're talking about right now" (CapRadio). Matsui promises to keep securing federal funding for the district's infrastructure and flood protection, expand mental health crisis response through the 988 line, and continue work on reducing diesel pollution (House.gov). **Strengths:** Two decades in the House, a seat on Energy and Commerce, and a documented record of securing federal funding for the district's infrastructure. **Trade-offs:** She finished second in her own June primary, and could not name the donors her opponent challenged her on in debate. **Keep in mind:** Twenty-one years of seniority is real leverage in Washington. Whether this district still wants to trade a newcomer for it is the question the primary already raised. ## Record in office Mai Vang has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Doris Matsui (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2005 and has sponsored 29 bills in the 119th Congress; 6 of their career bills have become law. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Matsui — Committees: Energy and Commerce Matsui — HJRES 27 (2021): Providing for the appointment of Barbara Barrett as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Matsui — HR 941 (2021): TRANSPLANT Act of 2021 Matsui — HJRES 87 (2020): Providing for the reappointment of Michael M. Lynton as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Mai Vang** — $1,086,084 raised (Individuals: $1,025,372; PACs & committees: $53,827) - **Doris Matsui** — $3,192,087 raised (Individuals: $840,024; PACs & committees: $936,964; Self-funding: $1,415,100) Total raised is all receipts for the 2026 cycle; the breakdown lists direct contributions, so the pieces can sum below the total. Figures are FEC filings through June 30, 2026, per the FEC bulk campaign-finance summaries, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 3. [Congresswoman Doris Matsui — Official Site (biography, committees, legislation)](https://matsui.house.gov/) 4. [CapRadio — Mai Vang and Doris Matsui meet in 'contentious' candidate forum](https://www.capradio.org/articles/2026/08/27/mai-vang-and-doris-matsui-meet-in-contentious-candidate-forum/) 5. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 6. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 7. [FEC — 2026 House & Senate current-campaign financial summaries (bulk data)](https://www.fec.gov/files/bulk-downloads/2026/webl26.zip) ## The rest of the ballot United States Representative, District 7 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "United States Representative, District 7 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-7 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.