Democrat Melanie Stansbury wins US House race in New Mexico

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, four-way race to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

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 mechanic.

"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 all-female House delegation for the state. She defeated third-term Republican state Sen. Mark Moores to fill an Albuquerque-based seat that has been held by Democrats since 2009.

Libertarian nominee Chris Manning and independent Aubrey Dunn Jr. campaigned unsuccessfully to represent the 1st Congressional District, which encompasses Albuquerque, rural Torrance County and other outlying areas that include the Indigenous community of Sandia Pueblo.