周二晚上，民主党人梅勒妮·斯坦斯伯里在新墨西哥州第一国会选区的特别选举中获胜，为她的政党赢得了压倒性的胜利。
这位州众议员在内政部长黛比·哈兰德之前占据的蓝色选区以超过32，000张选票的优势超过了她最接近的竞争对手、州参议院共和党人马克·穆雷斯。
进入选举之夜，民主党人乐观地认为，他们过去在该地区的压倒性领先可能表明斯坦斯伯里也有类似的结果，因为他们面临着与以前的获胜优势平行的压力，以避免人们猜测该地区可能在2022年发生逆转。
11月，乔·拜登总统以近23分的优势赢得了该地区，而哈兰德以超过16分的优势赢得了胜利。根据新墨西哥国务卿办公室的统计，斯坦斯伯里紧随其后，以24个百分点领先穆雷斯。
斯坦斯伯里在她的获胜演讲中向哈兰德点头致意，称她“真的哭了”，看着秘书由“[该国]第一位女性和有色人种女性副总统”宣誓就职。
格雷姆·詹宁斯/路透社泳池/文件
众议员黛比·哈兰德在参议院能源和自然资源委员会听证会上说
斯坦斯伯里说:“这一时刻不仅仅是站起来，而是要抓住这一时刻，给我们的政治和国家，以及我们希望在这个历史上前所未有的时代看到的世界带来根本性的变化。”
这场竞选还为两党提供了一个机会，在明年中期选举前测试潜在的政治信息主题。斯坦斯伯里在很大程度上使她的竞选活动与白宫的大流行后复苏和政策导向的信息相一致，而穆雷斯试图突出全国共和党人呼应的“法律和秩序”言论。
在他的竞选活动中，穆雷斯把斯坦斯伯里描绘成一个激进分子，并指出她对《呼吸法案》的支持——这是一项与黑人的命也是命运动有关的旨在改革警务的提议——作为他的主张的证据。迄今为止，该提案从未在国会正式提出。
选举结束后，民主党人似乎抓住了过道那边的言论，作为未来竞选斗争的素材。
“这场胜利应该成为全国共和党人的警示。选民们并不希望阻碍为美国人民提供服务...民主党全国委员会主席海梅·哈里森在一份声明中说:“对于美国人民来说，中期选举将是一个简单的选择。
Blowout in New Mexico special election a hopeful sign for Democrats
Democrat Melanie Stansbury won the special election in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District on Tuesday night, cinching a landslide victory for her party.
The state congresswoman outpaced her closest rival, state senate Republican Mark Moores, by more than 32,000 votes in the solidly blue district previously occupied by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Going into election night, Democrats were optimistic that their past sweeping leads in the district could indicate a similar outcome for Stansbury as they faced pressure to parallel previous winning margins to avoid speculation that the district could flip in 2022.
In November, President Joe Biden won the district by nearly 23 points, while Haaland sailed to victory by over 16 points. Stansbury followed suit and topped Moores by 24 points, according to the tally conducted by the New Mexico secretary of state’s office.
Stansbury gave a nod to Haaland in her victory speech, saying she "literally weeped" watching the secretary get sworn in by “[the country’s] first woman and woman of color vice president."
"This moment is not just about standing up, but about leaning into the moment and bringing fundamental change to our politics and to our country, and to the kind of world that we want to see in these historic and unprecedented times," Stansbury said.
The race also offered an opportunity for both parties to test drive potential political messaging themes ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Stansbury largely aligned her campaign to the post-pandemic recovery and policy-oriented messaging coming out of the White House, while Moores attempted to spotlight "law and order" rhetoric echoed by Republicans across the country.
Throughout his campaign, Moores painted Stansbury as a radical and pointed to her indication of support for the BREATHE Act -- a proposal associated with the Black Lives Matter movement that aims to reform policing -- as evidence of his claim. To date, the proposal has never been formally introduced in Congress.
In the aftermath of the election, Democrats appear to be seizing on the rhetoric from across the aisle as fodder for future campaign battles.
"This victory should serve as a cautionary tale to Republicans across the country. Standing in the way of delivering for the American people is not what voters are looking for...it’s going to be an easy choice for the American people come these midterm elections," said Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison in a statement.
