The Abridged version:
- In the race to represent Sacramento at the federal level, Republican candidate Zachariah Wooden — a student at Sacramento State — was briefly caught in the mix with two higher-profile Democratic front-runners.
- At 25 years old, Wooden is just old enough to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. He said his age is an advantage, not a setback.
- Sacramento County is slated to release another round of results Tuesday afternoon.
Doris Matsui and Mai Vang were Sacramento’s most well-known names heading into the race to represent California’s capital in Congress.
In a primary where the top two candidates, regardless of party, advance to the November election, they were the pair expected to meet head-to-head.
Matsui, the incumbent seeking an 11th term, has already clinched her spot on the fall ballot. And as of the most recent results, Vang, fellow Democrat and Sacramento City Council member, appears on track to hold second place.
Republican Zachariah Wooden, meanwhile, just finished his third year at Sacramento State, where he studies political science. In a race that garnered national media attention and a lot of local speculation, his was a name that voters may not have paid much attention.
Yet when polls closed and the first rounds of votes were announced on Election Night, Wooden trailed Vang by less than a percentage point. In the days following last week’s election, the 25-year-old was firmly in the middle of the closely watched race for federal office.
“It’s important to take responsibility for the future that you want,” Wooden told Abridged. “And I think that running for Congress is part of that.”
Back-and-forth counting
Wooden’s early showing in part reflected a piecemeal reporting process.
District 7, where Wooden, Vang and Matsui are competing, encompasses parts of Sacramento, El Dorado and San Joaquin counties. Results have dribbled in from each county over the past week, causing swings between second and third place.
Following a bump in reporting from El Dorado and San Joaquin, Wooden enjoyed a roughly 24-hour stint in that coveted second slot.
By Friday, after about 30,000 more votes were tallied in Sacramento, Vang not only recovered her spot in the top two but ate into Matsui’s lead.
Wesley Hussey, a political science professor at Sacramento State, said he was surprised to see Wooden — whom he knew as a student — rise to second place, even momentarily. But he also knew it wouldn’t stick.
Results reported on Election Day tend to initially skew toward Republican candidates, with early mail-in ballots favored by older, more conservative voters, Hussey said. As later postmarked ballots are counted and Election Day votes are verified, the outcome swings back to the left.
“It would be like we had a race for president, and for the first eight hours, just looked at results coming from Utah and Wyoming,” Hussey said.
Age versus experience
Age was the elephant in the race, especially between the two Democrats.
Matsui, 81, has held a seat in Congress since 2005. Before that, her husband, Robert Matsui, had represented the Sacramento region in Congress for about 25 years.
Vang, 41, pitched herself as part of the next generation ready to take the wheel. She has sat on the Sacramento City Council since 2020 and before that was a trustee on the Sacramento City Unified School District board.
At 25, Wooden just qualifies to be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
His main experience in public service consists of being on the Woodbridge Municipal Advisory Council. Members are appointed by the San Joaquin Board of Supervisors, not elected.
But Wooden’s age was likely not the top identifier on the minds of voters, Hussey said.
Vang and Matsui had the money and resources to promote different aspects of their platforms. Matsui could attract establishment Democrats based on her experience. Vang might win over younger liberals with her age.
Wooden’s main appeal for Republican voters was likely the “R” by his name, Hussey said.
“People are voting by party ID,” he said.
‘Why not now?’
Plenty of college students study civics, polish their resumes with Capitol-office internships and hold ambitions of — someday — seeing their own name toward the top of a ballot.
So, why is Wooden pursuing that dream now, at the minimum age requirement?
“Maybe it’s a cliche response, but I feel like a better question is why not now?” he said.
“It’s unfortunate,” Wooden added, “that there’s a stigma around younger people running for such highly considered office … I think there’s a reason that the (minimum) age is so low.”
Wooden said his age gives him an open-mindedness that he believes makes him the best candidate to serve younger Californians.
And as for his school plans, Wooden said that if he were to make it to November, he would consider taking a gap year from college to focus on running for Congress.
Campaign efforts
Throughout door knocking, event attending and other grassroot campaigning, Wooden said he encountered plenty of voters who were taken aback.
“There’s a lot of surprise,” he recalled of multiple interactions. “They say, ‘You look like you’re pretty young.'”
Oftentimes, Wooden said, it felt like voters assumed he wasn’t a serious candidate.
“Some people expect that you have to be a bit older,” he said. “Old, but not too old.”
In the process of running what he emphasized was a legitimate campaign, Wooden said he made appearances across the district’s three counties. He received help from volunteers associated with the groups who endorsed him, including the San Joaquin Young Republicans and Sacramento County GOP.
‘We’ll see what happens’
In a deeply partisan contest, blue-hued Sacramento County was the known hurdle for a Republican candidate, Wooden said.
Another batch of results is set to come out Tuesday afternoon. That update could be enough to push Vang across the finish line and settle the race with its anticipated outcome.
If that happens, Wooden contends there will be portions of the district left without a preferable option.
“The fact is that it includes communities who may not be interested in being represented by the incumbent,” Wooden said. Voters in those communities, including foothill towns and red parts of San Joaquin and El Dorado Counties, also lack an appetite for Vang, Wooden added.
Until the race is officially called, he will watch the updates roll in. Regardless of what happens in 2026, Wooden said, Sacramento-area voters can likely expect to see him on their ballots again.
“Come 2028, I think ultimately there will be a significant demand for a Republican candidate,” Wooden said. “So, we’ll see what happens.”
Savannah Kuchar is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.