Democrat wins U.S. House seat to replace Haaland
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Democrat Melanie Stansbury won election to Congress for New Mexico on Tuesday with a campaign closely tied to initiatives of the Biden administration.
Stansbury prevailed in an open, fourway race to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. The 42yearold state legislator outpaced her Republican rival by more than 30,000 votes, garnering roughly six of every 10 votes as ballots were tallied into the night.
Stansbury closely tethered her bid for Congress to proposed and enacted Democratic legislation on pandemic relief, infrastructure spending and interventions to slow climate change. Her victory shores up the Democratic majority in Congress ahead of 2022 midterm elections.
She strode on stage in Albuquerque with both arms raised high in celebration of her win. Thanking supporters and volunteers, she said the grit and determination that fueled her campaign was learned from her own mother, who worked in a denim factory and later as a crane operator.
“When the moment demands it, when our families and our communities demand it, when our country demands it, we step up and find the solutions for communities and we figure it out,” Stansbury said. “And that is exactly what we did in this campaign and that is why I am standing before you tonight.”
Stansbury’s victory preserves an allfemale House delegation for the state. She defeated thirdterm Republican state Sen. Mark Moores to fill a seat that has been held by Democrats since 2009.
The 1st Congressional District encompasses Albuquerque, rural Torrance County and other outlying areas that include the Indigenous community of Sandia Pueblo.
Stansbury reiterated her push for a $15 minimum wage, economic and racial equality and police reforms.
Amid Election Day voting, she emphasized the need for a major round of federal infrastructure spending.
“This is especially important for New Mexico because it includes funding for things like broadband and clean energy,” Stansbury said.
The district’s voters shunned former President Donald Trump with a gap of 23 percentage points in 2020.
Moores tried unsuccessfully to flip the seat to Republican control by highlighting concerns about crime in Albuquerque and painting his Democratic opponent as a radical progressive.