Melanie Stansbury

Melanie Ann Stansbury is an American politician and former ecology instructor serving as the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 1st congressional district since 2021. The district includes the majority of Albuquerque and most of its suburbs. A Democrat, Stansbury previously served as a member of the House of Representatives for the 28th district from 2019 to 2021.

Early life and education

Stansbury began her career as an ecology instructor at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. As a White House Fellow, she worked as a policy advisor on the Council on Environmental Quality. She was a consultant at Sandia National Laboratories and later served as a program examiner in the Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration. She worked on the staff of the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and as an aide to Senator Maria Cantwell. Since 2017, she has worked as a consultant and senior advisor at the Utton Transboundary Resources Center of the University of New Mexico.

Stansbury ran unopposed in the 2018 Democratic primary for the 28th district of the New Mexico House of Representatives. In the general election, she defeated Republican incumbent Jimmie C. Hall, who had held the seat for seven terms.
Stansbury was again unopposed in the 2020 primary. She defeated Republican Thomas R. Stull and Libertarian Robert Vaillancourt in the general election.
In the House, Stansbury introduced legislation to improve the energy conservation and water resource management of the state of New Mexico. She served as the vice chair of the Energy, Environment, & Natural Resources Committee.
Upon Stansbury's 2021 resignation from the state legislature in order to run to represent New Mexico in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Bernalillo County Commission appointed Pamelya Herndon as her replacement.

After Joe Biden announced Deb Haaland as his nominee for U.S. Interior Secretary, Stansbury announced her campaign for the special election to fill the seat. In the first round of voting by the state Democratic committee, Stansbury placed second after state Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez and automatically advanced to the runoff. In the second round of voting, she defeated Sedillo Lopez by six votes. As no Republican had represented the district since 2009, The Santa Fe New Mexican labeled her "a heavy favorite".
She defeated state Senator Mark Moores and former state Lands Commissioner Aubrey Dunn Jr. in the June 1 election in a landslide. Her margin of victory was slightly larger than President Biden's 23-point victory in the district in 2020, and significantly larger than Deb Haaland's in 2020 for the House.

On August 12, 2022, Stansbury voted to pass the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
According to a FiveThirtyEight analysis, during the 117th Congress, she voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.
Once President Donald Trump entered the House chamber for the 2025 Joint Session of Congress, Stansbury held a sign that said "this is not normal" to protest the mass firing of federal workers.

In a questionnaire created by the Adelante Progressive Caucus, Stansbury pledged support for Medicare for All legislation, a federal assault weapons ban, the D.C. statehood movement, canceling student loan debt, federal marijuana legalization, and several other progressive policies. She was endorsed by abortion rights group Voteprochoice.
On March 1, 2025 Stansbury participated in the discussion at the “Know The Assignment” webinar held by WomenForward.

Stansbury lives in Albuquerque.