Elections

Matsui saturates TV, Vang dominates on Social Media

Money rules where candidates can place their messages. If you have a boatload of money, candidates and their consultants typically go with mass-market TV and radio commercials.

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If you are the underdog with less funding, you have to resort to other means to reach voters. That means flooding social media.

On the TV front, Matsui is the clear winner. Matsui has flooded local airwaves with a variety of commercials; the most visible spot is the Donald Trump-inspired "You're Fired!" commercial featuring Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen and Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen.

Now that we mention it, perhaps the "Fired!" ad is not so subtle a message meant to lure MAGA followers to vote for Matsui.

For Vang, who has a fraction of Matsui's cash and far less well-funded political action committee support, her campaign relies on a social media blitz.

As for the granddaddy of social media platforms, Facebook, each candidate has about the same presence. Demographically, Facebook's audience skews older than other social media platforms.

Matsui is on Instagram, but her posts tend to show her with other elected officials at events like groundbreaking or in controlled situations (see video below).

By contrast, Vang posts a variety of videos on Instagram. One posted on Tuesday night featured a discussion with a Millennial veteran (see below).

As for TikTok, which is particularly popular with the youngest group of voters, Matsui has no presence. Matsui's absence is consistent with her March 2024 to ban TikTok.

As seen in the video below, Matsui can be seen on TikTok, but these are not posts from her campaign

Conversely, Vang has a high-profile presence on TikTok. On Tuesday, she released a video showing health care insurers and pharmaceutical companies that contributed to Matsui (see below).

Given what is thought to be a tight race between the two Democrats, it is a test of media and messaging. Will Vang's plucky videos aimed at a younger demographic break through, or will Matsui's saturation of airwaves be too much to overcome?

This Vang TikTok video was posted on Tuesday afternoon. You may need to click on the 'view profile' button.

@maiforus The same people who are saying we can't have Medicare for All are the same folks profitting from the status quo. Follow the corporate credit card. #sacramento #maivang #elkgrove #maiforus ♬ original sound - Mai Vang for Congress

This Vang Instagram video was posted late Tuesday afternoon.