U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury is doubling down on her gerrymandering fundraising pitch, again accusing Republicans of trying to “deny representation” while ignoring the political reality right here in New Mexico: Democrats used total control of Santa Fe to redraw the state’s congressional map and help wipe out Republican representation in the U.S. House delegation.
In a new campaign email with the subject line “A lack of representation,” Stansbury claimed, “Republican gerrymandering is an attempt to deny representation for Americans.”
She then tied the claim to her work with Elect Democratic Women, writing, “That’s why I’m a member of the Elect Democratic Women Caucus. We’re going to step up for women when their seats are at risk of being gerrymandered away.”
The email asked supporters to “rush $10 right now” to help Stansbury support Democratic women, saying her campaign needed to raise $1,320 by midnight to stay on track ahead of an FEC filing deadline.
“I’m fighting every day to help Democratic women take back the House — only 28% of Congresspeople are women, which isn’t enough,” Stansbury wrote. “Let’s show our strength at this filing deadline. Democratic women have to win, which is why I’m supporting them across the nation this cycle.”
The latest email follows a previous Stansbury fundraising pitch that warned donors about “gerrymandering” and asked for money to “make sure Republicans stay OUT of Congress.”
Now, rather than backing away from the hypocrisy, Stansbury appears to be leaning into it.
The problem for Stansbury is simple: New Mexico voters already watched Democrats do exactly what she claims to oppose.
After the 2020 Census, New Mexico’s congressional map was drawn by the state’s Democrat-controlled Legislature and signed by Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The new map dramatically reshaped the state’s congressional districts, especially the southern Second Congressional District, which had long been the most Republican-leaning seat in the state.
Democrats cracked conservative communities and stretched the district into more Democrat-friendly areas, giving their party a much stronger shot at winning all three congressional seats.
That is exactly what happened.
Republican Yvette Herrell lost the Second Congressional District in 2022 to Democrat Gabe Vasquez, and Democrats now hold all three of New Mexico’s U.S. House seats.
So when Stansbury claims that “Republican gerrymandering” is an attempt to “deny representation,” conservative New Mexicans may reasonably ask: what does she call what Democrats did in New Mexico?
Because for Republicans in this state, the result was clear. Their congressional representation was effectively erased.
Stansbury’s email tries to repackage the issue as a women’s representation fight, arguing that Democratic women need protection from Republican maps. But that framing conveniently leaves out a major fact: partisan map-rigging is not morally better when Democrats do it, and it is not less political when the beneficiaries are left-wing candidates.
The email also shows how national Democratic fundraising language is being filtered through New Mexico politicians. The formula is familiar: accuse Republicans of attacking democracy, claim representation is at risk, demand immediate small-dollar donations, and never mention what Democrats have done when they control the map-drawing process.
Stansbury’s latest message says she is fighting to help Democratic women “take back the House.” But in New Mexico, Democrats already used redistricting to help take every House seat.
That is why this pitch is so shameless.
Stansbury is not some outside observer watching redistricting fights from afar. She is a New Mexico Democrat whose party benefited from one of the most aggressive congressional redistricting plays in state history. Her own state’s map was redesigned to weaken Republican voters, particularly in southern New Mexico, and help Democrats achieve a 3-0 congressional delegation.
Now she is asking donors to believe Republicans are the only ones using district lines for political power.
The hypocrisy is hard to miss.
Stansbury’s email says “Republican gerrymandering” denies representation. New Mexico Republicans might say Democrat gerrymandering already did.
And instead of acknowledging that reality, Stansbury is fundraising off it.
The Democrats have destroyed N.M. . We are at the bottom in Education and on top of the list in Crime .
If you want to save N.M. , vote Republican .
the voters destroyed NM. without their support the dems would not be in office. the dem politicians told the public who they were from the beginning. they were voted in anyways. who the F wants to be forced to buy an electric car ? but voters vote in dems that want exactly that. voters learned nothing from 8 years of failure and govt coercion from MLG, they love having her dictate how they live and how much freedom they can have. all dems choose to live that way.
This is a result of the monies democrats pour into Emerge. And the media never covered, still doesn’t, the rottenness of the politics in New Mexico. We are pretty much the poster child of anything corrupt. And the corruption within the Republican party doesn’t help anything.
she is the perfect candidate to represent NM. clueless. no ability to reason. just repeats dem talking points. has no answers or solutions. a perpetual victim. way to go NM, you got what you voted for. and you will do it again, and again, and again. if it wasnt for big oil this state would be as poor as rural India. we failed as voters and we are tripling down with deb haaland. might as well vote in homeless to run the state based on their records of “success” its pitiful.
She was not born in NM. Go figure.
Yeah I never saw her at any of the redistricting meetings. We were at the one it West Mesa High School with no air conditioning and the speaker system that you couldn’t hear anybody on. Clearly sending a message that -we don’t care about you – to the west side. We actually had them stop the meeting because the heat was so unbearable.
The fact is is Stansbury knows exactly how New Mexico was so blatantly gerrymandered to keep Yvette Harrell out! One of the reddest counties Lee County was split in half! According to their own rules you cannot change the demographics that much. The districts cannot have borders that create the type of handpicked slivering. The Republican Party sued the redistricting committee because they did it according to race which is absolutely illegal & heinous. Nobody should know anybody’s race when it comes to voting or gerrymandering. And they shouldn’t be doing it according to party either! They used what is called POI or points of interest- AKA are you a Republican or a Democrat? Stansbury can stick it in her ear! She stands up there trying to be all ghetto yelling because she has no idea what the hell she’s doing except for what she’s told.
My goodness people please vote for DD this fall! Vote red all the way down the ticket. These Democrats don’t give a fat frog’s behind about new mexicans. They only care about what they can get and how much money they can launder to screw New Mexico and the rest of the country over. Let’s not talk about the 12 million plus dollars in Deb Holland has raised and then also laundered through middle seat Consulting and other Consulting groups that are out of state. She can’t put a sentence together. She can’t answer questions. The Navajo Nation won’t even endorse her! Cuz she’s a buffoon! New Mexico do better! And demand one day voting!
Melanie…. You are not NORMAL (your moniker) …..as she held up a sign “ This is not NORMAL” at Trumps first State of the Union Address…it was ripped from her hands by a Texan.
The ringleader is an illegal immigrant from Mexico on the terror plot of the UFC event. Melanie wants our State to be a sanctuary state..to protect these radical looser who have no respect for our Constitutional Republic…please support Ndidiamaka (Didi) Okpareke who is the running for congress against Not Normal Melanie seat.Google her bio…
Another scare tactic to steal your money. It’s just amazing what people will swallow if the feckless moron has a d behind their name. Sheep following the idiots to slaughter. The cult will vote for that d instead of common sense every time. Go figure
28% of women in Congress isn’t enough? Seriously? With the women representatives (oh, so now she knows what a woman is??) currently holding office, I think 28% is way WAY too many. AOC, Stansbury, Talib, Leger-Fernandez are all prime examples of why women shouldn’t be able to hold office. They are all hysterical screaming banshees.
I agree.
I agree wholeheartedly with all the comment. NM voters are so brainwashed with lies and they do not even try to research and find out the truth. We live in a godless state (hence “enchantment”) and until people wake up and change how they vote they will always vote “democrap.” They believe the lies and until that changes, we will be last in everything…. Praying for God’s mercy.
She got her wish . . .to become famous on the internet.
Well . . .maybe famous is not the real adjective here. Let’s see if she runs for President.
I live in CD-2 and I am not represented in DC. Perhaps I should stop paying taxes. Taxation without representation is what’s at play here.
This is not normal. Hypocrite.
Those Dems sure elect some REAL winners, don’t they?
In her first campaign the color pallet of her signs was a perfect calculation of the sesame street syndrome and it worked…npr and pbs has been grooming the electorate for decades…teach them while there young…mao and that austrian dude learned us that…her husband came to my house with a flier…wasnt pleased when tossed it back. All femdem husbands are cuckholds at best.
Stansbury, like the rest of our congressional delegation, is an incompetent, lying, self serving, POS. Please have her name one good thing they have done for our state as opposed to benefitting the Dimocrat party.
New Mexico has too many useful idiots. It’s a lost cause
It is really a toss up as to whether Scamsbury is hypocritical or ignorant. Watching and listening to her is painful. Life is hard … but even harder for stupid people.