Matsui, Doris Okada

Doris Okada Matsui (born Doris Kazue Okada; September 25, 1944) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005, representing California's 6th congressional district (until 2013 numbered the 5th district). Having succeeded her late husband, Robert Matsui, Doris Matsui is the only current member of Congress who is an example of widow's succession.

Born in the Poston War Relocation Center internment camp in Poston, Arizona and raised in Dinuba, California, she earned a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1966, the year she married Robert Matsui. Matsui was a housewife and socialite and was active in the group "Lawyers' Wives", now called the Legal Auxiliary of Sacramento, while her husband was a local attorney and served on the Sacramento City Council before his election to Congress in 1979. Doris Matsui worked as a volunteer on Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, serving on his transition team after Clinton's election. Following the inauguration, she was appointed deputy special assistant to the president and deputy director of public liaison, working under Alexis Herman. Clinton appointed her to the board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in September 2000; she later became a lobbyist in Washington where she represented corporate clients until 2005, when she returned to California to run for Congress against a field of local Democrats.

Matsui has worked tirelessly to improve access to high-quality, affordable, accessible health care and was instrumental in crafting the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Under her leadership as a co-chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), the Caucus has spearheaded numerous initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable infrastructure, tax incentives for clean energy, and blocking harmful directives from the Trump Administration that would undermine protections for human health and the environment. She has also authored a number of legislative proposals aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions while boosting clean energy manufacturing and financing to help smaller clean energy companies grow and create jobs. Congresswoman Matsui is also a leader on technology and internet policy. She is a Co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Spectrum Caucus, having authored laws that facilitated record-breaking spectrum auctions.

In the Spring of 2020, Congresswoman Matsui married Roger Sant.