Rep. Doris Matsui Facebook page liked comment calling for Mai Vang's deportation

Mathew Miranda, The Sacramento Bee on Nov 11, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Rep. Doris Matsui’s campaign appeared to endorse a call to deport her congressional opponent Mai Vang by reacting with a heart emoji on a Facebook message — the campaign has since called it accidental.

The campaign deleted the message and its reaction on Wednesday afternoon after questions from The Sacramento Bee. The message was on a Nov. 4 Facebook post from the Matsui campaign, in which the congresswoman thanked her supporters following election night.

“Congrats Doris Matsui!!” said one male commenter. “PLEASE DEPORT Mai Vang ASAP!!!”

Below the message, the man included a link to an opinion column from the California Globe, a right center news outlet, that criticized Vang for her refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Vang, who was born in the U.S. and has two brothers serving in the U.S. military, faced repeated attacks about her longstanding practice throughout the election cycle.

The man’s message received two heart emojis, one of which came from the Matsui campaign Facebook page. The post has more than 80 comments, with only some that have reactions from the campaign.

Roger Salazar, a senior adviser for the Matsui campaign, said Wednesday that the Facebook reaction was “clearly accidental and not intentional.” The message is now deleted.

“Of course we don’t condone that type of language,” Salazar said in a written statement.

The removal of the comment comes one day after The Associated Press called the Sacramento region 7th Congressional District race in favor of Matsui. The contest was a contentious, generational and intraparty battle between Matsui, who has represented the region since 2005, and Vang, a progressive member of the Sacramento City Council.

The latest results have Matsui leading Vang 53.3% to 46.7% in the 7th District. That margin is expected to narrow in the coming days after more ballots from Sacramento County are counted.

The 7th District consists of parts of Sacramento, San Joaquin and El Dorado counties. Major cities in the district include Sacramento, Lodi, Placerville and Elk Grove.

_____