Doris Matsui

Doris Matsui's parents met and married while incarcerated at Poston, Arizona, during World War II.¹ She was born there.¹ She grew up on a farm in California's Central Valley and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.² A mother and grandmother, she married Roger Sant in 2020, adding his children and grandchildren to her family.²

Before Congress, Matsui chaired Sacramento's KVIE public television board and held leadership roles at the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento Children's Home and Sacramento Symphony Orchestra.² She also served on President Clinton's transition board and worked in the White House Office of Public Liaison as a deputy assistant to the president.²

Matsui entered Congress through a March 2005 special election, succeeding her late husband, Robert.² She helped develop the 2014 legislation that launched a demonstration program for certified community behavioral health clinics.² Those clinics provide mental health and substance use treatment, including crisis services available around the clock.³

She is the top Democrat on the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee.² Her priorities include affordable broadband, clean energy, telehealth and Sacramento flood protection.² Her office has pushed federal funding for projects in Natomas, West Sacramento and the Sacramento Weir.² She faces fellow Democrat Mai Vang in November's race for California's 7th District.⁴