Democratic Rep. Robert T. Matsui of California, who spent time in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans as an infant during World War II and went on to serve 26 years in Congress, died Saturday of complications from a blood-related illness, his family announced. He was 63.

Matsui was an attorney and city council member in Sacramento before winning election to the House in 1978. He juggled political and policy roles during more than a quarter-century in Congress, most recently serving as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, where he headed the party’s unsuccessful effort to regain control of the House.

He also was the third-ranking Democrat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, where he was his party’s point man on Social Security legislation. He was recently re-elected with ease to his 14th term. His wife, Doris, was until 1998 a deputy director of public liaison in the Clinton White House.

Matsui was born in 1941. The following year, his family was among the Japanese-Americans forced into internment camps during World War II. Decades later, he helped pass legislation that apologized for the internment policy and provided compensation for the survivors.

Matsui generally supported Democratic legislation, but his support for global trade legislation put him at odds with members of his party on some high-profile measures.

As senior Democrat on the subcommittee on Social Security, Matsui gave every impression during the final few weeks of his life of being eager to lead the opposition to President Bush’s plans to establish personal retirement accounts as part of a general overhaul of the program.

In his hometown Sunday, Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo described Matsui as “our voice, our advocate, our leader” in ensuring federal support for flood control, light rail, transportation, housing and parks projects in the city of 418,000 people.

Governor Schwarzenegger is responsible for scheduling a special election to fill the vacant seat.