Matsui, Robert T. (Robert Takeo), 1941-2005

Robert Takeo Matsui (September 17, 1941 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served on the Sacramento City Council from 1971 to 1978 and in the U.S. House of Representatives as the congressman for California's 3rd and 5th congressional districts from 1979 until his death at the end of his 13th term in 2005.

Born in Sacramento, California, he was six months old when he and his family were taken from Sacramento and interned by the U.S. government at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in 1942. After returning to Sacramento following the end of World War II, Matsui attended public schools there, eventually graduating from C. K. McClatchy High School before earning a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. He founded his own Sacramento law practice in 1967. In 1971, Matsui was elected to the Sacramento City Council. He won re-election in 1975 and became vice mayor of the city in 1977. In 1978, Matsui ran for the Democratic nomination in what was then the 3rd District after 12-term incumbent John E. Moss announced his retirement. Winning a five-way Democratic primary, he would go on to be re-elected thirteen times between 1980 and 2004.

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