The Abridged version:
- U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui continues to lead the race to represent Sacramento in Congress. As of Friday, she had 30.5% of the vote.
- Sacramento City Council member Mai Vang shot back up to second with 28.5% of the vote, following the addition of more Sacramento County votes. Republican Zachariah Wooden, who briefly took second place Thursday, had 22.6% of the vote as of Friday.
- Candidates are competing for a seat that includes Sacramento, Elk Grove, Placerville and Galt. The race has hinged on questions of age versus experience.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui has moved on to the November runoff election in her race to once again represent Sacramento in Congress.
Following the latest round of election results Friday afternoon, she had 30.5% of votes. The Associated Press declared that Matsui had earned a spot on the November ballot after the latest results were posted.
Sacramento City Council member and fellow Democrat Mai Vang returned to second place with 28.5%, after being briefly and narrowly bumped to third by Republican challenger Zachariah Wooden. He is now at 22.6%.
About 65% of votes were counted as of 4 p.m. Friday
An incumbent with 10 terms under her belt, Matsui took the early lead when polls closed on Tuesday’s primary election in California’s 7th Congressional District.
The top two winners from June will advance to November’s election ballot.
Proposition 50, a measure aimed at giving California Democrats a leg up in statewide congressional races, redrew the boundaries of District 7 and made it a shade more purple.
Candidates are currently vying for a seat that includes Sacramento’s central city, South Sacramento, Elk Grove, El Dorado Hills, Placerville and Galt.
Matsui stays ahead, Vang hangs on
Matsui had about a 6-point edge over Vang after Election Night. Across Sacramento, El Dorado and San Joaquin counties, almost half of all votes were counted by the close of Election Day.
Updated counts released Thursday kept Matsui ahead, with 30.2% of the vote.
But a spike from El Dorado County helped move Wooden, a student who just finished his third year at Sacramento State, less than a quarter of a percentage point above Vang.
The Friday results included a fresh batch of numbers from Sacramento County, which accounts for the largest portion of District 7 and is where the Democratic candidates have the advantage.
Vang jumped back over Wooden by six points.
Age and immigration
For many voters, the race to represent California’s capital hinged on questions of age versus experience.
Matsui, 81, urged voters to get behind her decades of experience. Vang, 41, argued the region is ready for a new generation at the helm. Wooden, 24, contended that his youth offers him better understanding of young Californians’ concerns.
The two Democrats in the race have duked it out over federal immigration policy.
Coming from a family of Hmong refugees from Laos, Vang took issue with the incumbent’s efforts so far to combat immigration policies and actions from the Trump administration.
“I feel like I don’t have the luxury of waiting on the sidelines while our democracy is under attack,” Vang said at an April campaign event.
Matsui, born in a 1944 internment camp, has held at least four news conferences outside the John Moss Federal Building in Sacramento, where immigrants were being detained.
“You don’t have to tell me about injustice,” Matsui told a group of voters in May.
Felicia Alvarez contributed to this reporting.
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.