Democrat Melanie Stansbury wins New Mexico special election for US House seat, CNN projects
CNN
Democratic state Rep. Melanie Stansbury will win the special election to represent New Mexico's 1st Congressional District, CNN projected Tuesday, securing the seat left vacant when Interior Secretary Deb Haaland joined the Biden administration.
Stansbury, a scientist who has served in the New Mexico state House since 2019, defeated Republican state Sen. Mark Moores. Her victory for the seat, which had been vacant since March, will give the narrow Democratic majority in the US House a bit more breathing room. The central New Mexico district, which includes most of Albuquerque, was considered favorable ground for Democrats: The congressional seat has been in Democratic hands since 2009, after former Republican Rep. Heather Wilson retired to launch a Senate bid that ultimately failed. And Democratic presidential nominees have won the district in every election since 2004. Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump there by 23 percentage points last year.President Joe Biden on Sunday delivers his first commencement address of the 2024 season at Morehouse College, where the president may for the first time in months have to confront the angst that’s been percolating on college campuses nationwide toward his administration’s policies on the Israel-Hamas war.
Arab and Palestinian Americans left a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday night frustrated they did not have a clear understanding of how the Biden administration might act upon their concerns as the Israel-Hamas war devastates the civilian population in Gaza, participants told CNN.