Democrat Sacramento city councilwoman Mai Vang — who has infuriated local residents by her refusal to say the Pledge of Allegiance while turning her back on the US flag — was trailing Tuesday night in her bid to unseat longtime Congresswoman Doris Matsui in a bitter primary fight.
Matsui led early Tuesday with 28,950 votes, or 32.6%, while Vang was in second with 22,821 votes, or 25.7%, according to the Associated Press.
Republican Zachariah Wooden was close behind in third with 20,079 votes, or 22.6%, leaving him within striking distance of Vang as the vote count continues.
Under California’s top-two primary system, the top two candidates advance to the November runoff regardless of party.
Vang’s progressive challenge to Matsui, 81, may have difficulty as conservative pockets such as Lodi, Placerville and El Dorado Hills were added to the congressional map by Proposition 50’s redistricting.
Vang, 41, had sought to cast the race as a generational changing of the guard against an entrenched Democratic incumbent who has held the Sacramento-area seat since 2005.
But the closing stretch of the campaign became consumed by criticism of Vang’s posture toward the American flag and Pledge of Allegiance.
Vang has refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and has turned her back on the flag at multiple public meetings and ceremonies, including a Veterans Day ceremony, Sacramento City Council meetings and district meetings.
She has defended the practice, writing on social media that she uses the moment to “ground” herself and reflect on “the injustices and harm that continue to affect so many, both locally and across the globe, under this nation’s influence.”
Wooden blasted Vang’s refusal to salute the flag as “malicious.”
“To hear that somebody wants to be a sitting member of US Congress and appears to be disinterested in the major symbols of American pride and what it means to be an American, it’s not just disappointing — it’s malicious,” Wooden previously told The Post.
Vang’s campaign tried to shift attention back to Matsui in the final days, accusing the incumbent of working to boost Wooden to edge Vang out of the November runoff.
Vang pointed to a Matsui campaign blog post about Wooden that described the Republican as having a “record of serving the community” while also tying him to President Trump’s policies.
Kevin Liao, a spokesperson for Matsui’s campaign, told the Sacramento Bee the post was intended to contrast Matsui with “extreme Republican ideas.”
Vang accused Matsui of improperly steering super PACs to bankroll and boost Wooden’s campaign “by any means necessary.”
Critics of Vang accused her of trying to become the “AOC of the Central Valley,” a reference to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Steve Maviglio, a Democratic political consultant in Sacramento, called Vang’s actions “completely disrespectful to veterans and their families.”
“You can’t say the Pledge of Allegiance — that’s how extreme you are?” he said. “Come on.”
