Doris Matsui Wins Special Election for Late Husband's House Seat

Sounding themes familiar from her late husband's 14 campaigns, Doris Matsui handily won a special election to fill his term and will become the newest member of the U.S. House of Representatives. With all precincts reporting Tuesday, Matsui had nearly 72 percent of the overall vote and 88 percent among Democrats in a race marked by low turnout. She is expected to be sworn in Thursday. Matsui, a lobbyist and former Clinton White House official, completed what her television ads called a "uniquely Sacramento story." Succeeding her husband, the late U.S. Rep. Robert Matsui, she becomes the nation's 45th congressional widow since 1923 to assume the seat of her spouse. She is the third to win in California under such circumstances since 1998. "It feels bittersweet, but my heart is full of hope and promise," said Matsui, minutes after giving a victory speech. "This was a time when most of us wish we didn't have to be here, but that was not the way it was going to be." She promised to continue her husband's legacy in Congress, working for "equality and the dignity of the elderly and making sure that Sacramento is even a better place to live and that America is stronger for the coming generations." [more]