SACRAMENTO, March 9 (UPI) -- Doris Matsui has become the 46th widow to succeed her husband in the U.S. Congress, winning election to his seat with better than 70 percent of the vote.
Matsui's election to the Sacramento-based 5th Congressional District was not surprising. Her husband, the late U.S. Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Calif., was first elected to the seat in 1978 and never had a difficult time winning re-election.
Democrat Julie Padilla finished second in the multi-candidate field, followed by Republican John Thomas Flynn, each of whom polled less than 10 percent of the vote in the low-turnout special election, the Sacramento Bee said Wednesday.
Matsui is expected to be sworn Thursday, becoming the third widow -- after U.S. Reps. Lois Capps, D-Calif., and Mary Bono, R-Calif. -- in a decade to succeed her spouse in the state's congressional delegation.
