{"id":339067,"date":"2026-05-30T13:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T13:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339067\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T13:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T13:28:07","slug":"mai-vang-record-questioned-in-sacramento-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339067\/","title":{"rendered":"Mai Vang record questioned in Sacramento race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang\u2019s combative campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui has focused almost entirely on attacking Matsui\u2019s age, campaign finances and tenure. Vang\u2019s website<\/a> plainly acknowledges the strategy: \u201cVoters need to see the overwhelmingly negative messaging against the incumbent.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a good reason for Vang to be on the attack. She has precious little to show for her 10 years in elected office on Sacramento\u2019s City Council and the Sacramento City Unified School District board before that.<\/p>\n

Vang\u2019s main claim to fame appears to be stories and photos of her turning her back on the American flag<\/a> and texting (because, as she says, \u201cI use that moment to ground myself\u201d) while her Democratic colleagues recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of council meetings<\/p>\n

On the SCUSD board, Vang did little to right the ship at a school district awash in debt<\/a> and plagued by school closures and labor disputes. Vang left after one term. Accomplishments? None.<\/p>\n

While campaigning for the city council, Vang promised<\/a> much of what she is selling in her campaign for Congress: better health care, greater economic opportunity, safer streets, and a reduction in homelessness \u2014 traditional vote-pleasing rainbows and unicorns.<\/p>\n

In fact, the conditions in Vang\u2019s district<\/a> on all of these issues are unfavorable.<\/p>\n

Vang refuses to support Mayor Kevin McCarty\u2019s<\/a> aggressive efforts to build more tiny houses and provide shelter. Her reasoning: every unit needs a shower. Even housing advocates disagree; they argue it is more important for the unhoused to be off the streets with roofs over their heads. Vang was on the losing end of a recent 7-2 vote on McCarty\u2019s key proposal,<\/a> as she is on other important issues facing the council.<\/p>\n

Vang has also voted against four of the five city budgets,<\/a> largely over funding for public safety and police. She has consistently opposed efforts to fill vacant positions in the city\u2019s police department.<\/a> Meanwhile, her South Sacramento council district <\/a>continues to have among the highest rates of crime in the city.<\/p>\n

This failure to build consensus with colleagues on the difficult decisions required to balance the city\u2019s budget is central to why the majority of her council colleagues threw their support behind Matsui.<\/a><\/p>\n

Vang\u2019s frosty relations with Mayor McCarty and the rest of the council is driven by her socialist ideology over practicality. This does not bode well for getting results in the House of Representatives because relationships matter in Congress.<\/p>\n

But perhaps Exhibit A of Vang\u2019s failed leadership is a dusty 102-acre parcel in the heart of her council district in<\/a> Meadowview purchased by the city in 2022 for $12.2 million from the U.S. Department of Labor. (Matsui, whose record of delivering results for Sacramento is indisputable, helped make the transaction happen).<\/p>\n

Four years ago, Vang championed<\/a> the purchase as \u201ctransformative.\u201d Today, it remains an empty lot.<\/p>\n

Vang blocked the original plans to utilize the site for affordable housing pushed by former Mayor Darrell Steinberg.<\/a> Since that time, she has failed to develop consensus behind the project. It\u2019s now being studied to death and planners say it may take up to seven years to develop \u2014 and that\u2019s if the city doesn\u2019t have to return federal money because of inaction or sell the land completely.<\/p>\n

Vang\u2019s attacks on Matsui\u2019s financial backers also seem mired in hypocrisy. In her City Council runs, Vang cashed multiple checks<\/a> from casinos, PG&E, and developers totaling $57,910. In addition, her campaign is being buoyed by an independent expenditure of more than $600,000<\/a> from out-of-state special-interest PACs.<\/p>\n

As for the complaints about age, like it or not, Congress runs on a seniority system. The more experience you have, the more you\u2019re rewarded with committee posts and resources a district needs.<\/p>\n

There can be no argument that Matsui, who was rated one of the most effective members of Congress<\/a> of any age or tenure, has delivered for the region.<\/p>\n

If Vang couldn\u2019t deliver on her top priority in her council district, how will she deliver for our region in Congress?<\/p>\n

At this moment in history, the last thing Sacramento needs is a representative requiring training wheels. Experience matters.<\/p>\n

Mai Vang is talented at yelling into bullhorns, but she doesn\u2019t measure up as a representative for our region.<\/p>\n

Steve Maviglio is a political consultant who served as press secretary to former California Gov. Gray Davis and deputy chief of staff to former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang\u2019s combative campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui has focused almost entirely on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-339067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}