Mai Vang claims polling lead over Doris Matsui, deflects attendance criticism in CA-07 race
"They are behind in the polls, and they know it."
In a recent interview, congressional candidate Mai Vang deflected claims about her attendance at board meetings and asserted that she is leading Rep. Doris Matsui.
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The claims were made on Capitol Public Radio's Insight program (listen to the segment below). Vang is challenging a fellow Democrat in the hotly contested race for California's 7th district, which includes all of Elk Grove.
When asked about claims from Matsui supporters that she has missed several board meetings she is required to attend as a Sacramento City Council member, Vang deflected.
Instead of addressing the claims, Vang redirected the conversation to Matsui's lack of town hall meetings, which she has been criticized for while serving in Congress.
"These are misleading ads," Vang said. "If you are talking about showing up, I have held more community town halls, more events, more office hours, in my first term as a city councilwoman compared to the congresswoman's 22 years in office."
In the context of the attendance claims, Vang added that the attacks came from corporate political action committees supporting Matsui.
"The reason why they are going negative is that they are behind in the polls and they know it."
While Vang did not detail her reasons for the absences, a page added to the campaign website addressed the issue. Below is her explanation for the absences promoted by Matsui and her supporters:
- Heaviest Workload on Council - At the time, Mai was assigned to 16 boards, commissions, and committees at the time. No other councilmember had more than 13. Regional boards often meet at the same time, so council members holding several seats coordinate coverage based on which board needs a quorum and what is on the agenda. (Source)
- Temporary by design - In 2024, when the District 2 was vacated, Councilmember Vang was asked to temporarily serve in this capacity in case the board needed to reach quorum. Given the significant number of assignments she held at the time, she was meant to serve only in a contingency capacity. This contingency was never activated as the city had enough representation during each meeting.
- Transitioned Appointments to Councilmember Thao - When Shoun Thao was appointed by the Council to represent District 2, the April 2, 2024 roster (File ID 2024-00851) moved four of Mai's seats to him, including the Transportation Authority. Councilmembers Kaplan and Talamantes gave up seats in the same action.
- City staff called it routine practice when "circumstances require a new or replacement appointee." (Source)
