An early contender emerges for Haaland’s seat
Many politicians want to succeed Congresswoman Deb Haaland. Few are willing to speak openly of their ambition at this early stage. State Rep. Melanie Stansbury is an exception.
If senators confirm Haaland as Cabinet secretary of the Interior Department, Stansbury wants to replace her in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I do intend to throw my hat in the ring,” Stansbury, D-Albuquerque, said in an interview.
Stansbury, 41, ran for public office for the first time in 2018. She made an emphatic entry, defeating seven-term Republican Rep. Jimmie Hall in District 28, Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights.
Hall might have underestimated Stansbury in the beginning. He hadn’t been pressed in reelection campaigns, and his district had slightly more registered Republicans than Democrats. After Stansbury bested him in the early rounds of fundraising, Hall knew he was in a tough race. He couldn’t rebound at that stage.
Stansbury ousted Hall in one of the state’s bigger upsets. She received almost 54 percent of the vote. Stansbury also ended up raising $180,000, about $82,000 more than Hall, according to state campaign records.
Though a first-time candidate, Stansbury wasn’t a novice in politics or government.
She had worked as a career staff member in the White House Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
In committee work, Stansbury studied two of her role models — Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington. Those senators led the way in advancing a package of legislation on energy that had been months in the making.
But in 2016, Stansbury saw the proposal crumble in the House of Representatives as bipartisanship disappeared. It was a pivotal event for her.
“I was feeling in my heart it was time to go home,” she said of returning to Albuquerque. “I also said I want to get involved. I want to get in the fight.”
Her victory over Hall gave her a platform. In her first two years as a state representative, Stansbury sponsored or cosponsored 14 bills that became law.
One eliminated copayments from students who qualified for reducedprice school breakfasts and lunches. The measure cleared the House of Representatives 67-0 and then passed the Senate 39-0.
The state Legislature can be as fractious as a playground full of 10-year-olds. Stansbury sees something else, though. She says the bill delivering meals for students was one of many examples of bipartisanship at the Capitol.
Other proposals Stansbury helped turn into law were a mix of looking out for vulnerable people and improving the performance of state agencies.
One of her bills created a state task force to increase resources for reporting and identifying missing and murdered Indigenous women. Haaland has pressed the same issue on the national level.
Other successful bills by Stansbury directed state agencies to develop systems to modernize the energy grid and collaborate in national efforts to manage precious water.
Stansbury knows she is one of many politicians who would compete for Haaland’s seat if it opens in 2021.
For a Democrat, getting the nomination probably will be more challenging than winning the special election.
No primaries would figure into the process of replacing Haaland. Instead, Stansbury and every other Democrat who wants the seat would try to win support from the Democratic Party’s State Central Committee.
A spokeswoman for the party said 150 to 200 committee members from the 1st Congressional District would select a nominee if Haaland moves on to the Interior Department.
Republicans and Libertarians would go through the same nominating process. But the fiercest competition would be in Democratic circles.
Haaland might be influential in choosing a candidate to succeed her.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who represented the 1st Congressional District from 2013 through 2018, could be even more powerful in the selection process.
Whoever the Democratic Central Committee chooses will be favored to win the special election. Not since 2006 has a Republican won the 1st Congressional District.
Stansbury’s strategy in defeating Hall and then winning reelection this year was to ignore party labels and focus on what’s possible.
She believes a similar message would work in a special election to replace Haaland.
“You need smart, good-hearted people to run for Congress,” Stansbury said. “Heart and the mind you bring to the work really matter.”
If there’s a race, Stansbury is in. She should be a top contender, but the usual rules won’t apply.
What’s ahead might resemble the old political machines. Insiders slated the candidates who would appear on the ballot. Voters sat on the sidelines, far removed from the action.