{"id":344174,"date":"2026-06-03T05:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344174\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T05:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:48:16","slug":"sacramento-congressional-candidate-who-turns-back-on-us-flag-struggles-in-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344174\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento congressional candidate who turns back on US flag struggles in election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrat Sacramento city councilwoman Mai Vang<\/a> \u2014 who has infuriated local residents by her refusal to say the Pledge of Allegiance while turning her back on the US flag<\/a> \u2014 was trailing Tuesday night in her bid to unseat longtime Congresswoman Doris Matsui in a bitter primary fight.<\/p>\n

Matsui led early Tuesday with 28,950 votes, or 32.6%, while Vang was in second with 22,821 votes, or 25.7%, according to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Mai Vang has been under fire for her stance on the Pledge of Allegiance. AP<\/p>\n

Rep. Doris Matsui, 81, had a lear in early election returns. AP Photo\/Rich Pedroncelli<\/p>\n

Republican Zachariah Wooden was close behind in third with 20,079 votes, or 22.6%, leaving him within striking distance of Vang as the vote count continues.<\/p>\n

Under California\u2019s top-two primary system, the top two candidates advance to the November runoff regardless of party.<\/p>\n

Vang\u2019s progressive challenge to Matsui, 81, may have difficulty as conservative pockets such as Lodi, Placerville and El Dorado Hills were added to the congressional map by Proposition 50\u2019s redistricting.<\/p>\n

Vang, 41, had sought to cast the race as a generational changing of the guard against an entrenched Democratic incumbent who has held the Sacramento-area seat since 2005.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the closing stretch of the campaign became consumed by criticism of Vang\u2019s posture toward the American flag and Pledge of Allegiance.<\/p>\n

Vang has refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and has turned her back on the flag at multiple public meetings and ceremonies, including a Veterans Day ceremony, Sacramento City Council meetings and district meetings.<\/p>\n

Vang has turned her back on the flag during public meetings. NEWSMAX<\/p>\n

Critics of Vang have called attention to her controversial record. MAI VANG<\/p>\n

She has defended the practice, writing on social media that she uses the moment to \u201cground\u201d herself and reflect on \u201cthe injustices and harm that continue to affect so many, both locally and across the globe, under this nation\u2019s influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wooden blasted Vang\u2019s refusal to salute the flag as \u201cmalicious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo hear that somebody wants to be a sitting member of US Congress and appears to be disinterested in the major symbols of American pride and what it means to be an American, it\u2019s not just disappointing \u2014 it\u2019s malicious,\u201d Wooden previously told The Post.<\/p>\n

Vang\u2019s campaign tried to shift attention back to Matsui in the final days, accusing the incumbent of working to boost Wooden<\/a> to edge Vang out of the November runoff.<\/p>\n

Matsui has served in Congress for more than two decades. Paul Kitagaki Jr.\/ZUMA \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

Vang pointed to a Matsui campaign blog post about Wooden that described the Republican as having a \u201crecord of serving the community\u201d while also tying him to President Trump\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n

Kevin Liao, a spokesperson for Matsui\u2019s campaign, told the Sacramento Bee<\/a> the post was intended to contrast Matsui with \u201cextreme Republican ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vang accused Matsui of improperly steering super PACs to bankroll and boost Wooden\u2019s campaign \u201cby any means necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics of Vang accused her of trying to become the \u201cAOC of the Central Valley,\u201d a reference to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.<\/p>\n

Steve Maviglio, a Democratic political consultant in Sacramento, called Vang\u2019s actions \u201ccompletely disrespectful to veterans and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t say the Pledge of Allegiance \u2014 that\u2019s how extreme you are?\u201d he said. \u201cCome on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democrat Sacramento city councilwoman Mai Vang \u2014 who has infuriated local residents by her refusal to say the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[74414,7,1752,117906,13,121,123,122,3586],"class_list":["post-344174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-american-flag","tag-california","tag-congress","tag-patriotism","tag-politics","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344174","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=344174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}