![\"Andres](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7f80c78e-353f-4c2e-838e-7fbe893dfa94_1721668549.png\")
<\/a>SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014<\/p>\nRep. Doris Matsui and Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang drew contrasts over their experience, health care policy and military spending during a debate Thursday night in Sacramento\u2019s Elmhurst neighborhood.<\/p>\n
The debate between the two Democrats drew a packed audience of voters from California\u2019s 7th Congressional District. The candidates also discussed affordable housing and Social Security.<\/p>\n
One of the sharpest exchanges centered on whether Vang has enough experience to replace Matsui, a longtime member of Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m walking in with 10 years of governing experience, 20 years of policy advocacy experience,\u201d Vang said. \u201cWhen Doris Matsui stepped into that, she had no governance experience. We start somewhere, and I\u2019m walking in with that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matsui argued that effectiveness in Congress depends on relationships, institutional knowledge and an understanding of the legislative process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a position where you inherit committees,\u201d Matsui said. \u201cYou have to fight for it. It\u2019s very difficult to get on the committees that you want to get on. You have to have relationships. You have to understand the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exchange became more pointed when Vang compared her qualifications with those of the late Rep. Bob Matsui, Doris Matsui\u2019s husband and predecessor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am older than Bob Matsui when he ran for Congress, and I have more governing experience than the congresswoman when she first started,\u201d Vang said.<\/p>\n
Matsui responded by citing her six years of work in the White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is probably the best experience you can get as far as Washington goes,\u201d Matsui said. \u201cAnd don\u2019t bring Bob Matsui into this discussion. We are talking about the race now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Candidates differ on military policy<\/p>\n
The candidates also disagreed over war powers and military spending.<\/p>\n
Vang described herself as the anti-war candidate and called for redirecting federal money from overseas conflicts to domestic programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spend trillions of dollars on wars, and what we need to be doing is spending our tax dollars here, right at home, on systems of care, on education, on health care,\u201d Vang said.<\/p>\n
Matsui said members of Congress have used hearings and the War Powers Resolution to scrutinize the Trump administration but argued that Democrats need control of the House to exercise greater authority.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hold them accountable as much as we can, and we have hearings,\u201d Matsui said. \u201cBut you know what? We do need our gavels. We need to be able to have the power to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health care highlights policy divide<\/p>\n
Health care marked another clear difference between the candidates.<\/p>\n
Matsui said she supports universal coverage but views Medicare for All as one of several possible approaches. She said lawmakers must consider the cost of a single-payer system and examine models used in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
\u201cMedicare for All is not a panacea,\u201d Matsui said. \u201cWe have not studied it enough. Single payer is an option here. We can do it, but we have to think about what it does for our budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vang supports Medicare for All and said the current system is too expensive and fails to provide adequate access to care.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur current health system is broken,\u201d Vang said. \u201cWe live in the richest state and the richest country in the world, yet we can\u2019t provide health care for our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The candidates found common ground on Social Security, with both saying benefits should be protected and the program should remain fully funded.<\/p>\n
Ballots for the November election are expected to begin going out in about five weeks. <\/p>\n
See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matsui, Vang clash over experience, health care and military spending in Sacramento debate SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 Rep. Doris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[14852,136039,26532,11290,31172,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-445901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-andres-valle","tag-congressional-district-7","tag-debate","tag-doris-matsui","tag-mai-vang","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445901","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=445901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}