A special election was held on June 1, 2021, to fill the vacancy in New Mexico's 1st congressional district created by Representative Deb Haaland's resignation from the United States House of Representatives to become the Secretary of the Interior in Joe Biden's administration.
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New Mexico's 1st congressional district | |||||||||||||||||
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Stansbury: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 60–70% 70–80%
80–90% 90–100% Moores: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Tie: No votes: | |||||||||||||||||
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State Representatives Patricia Roybal Caballero, Georgene Louis and Melanie Stansbury and state Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez sought the Democratic nomination. State Senator Mark Moores, radio host Eddy Aragon and activist Elisa Martinez sought the Republican nomination.
The Democratic Party nominated Stansbury; the Republican Party nominated Moores; the Libertarian Party selected Chris Manning; former Commissioner of Public Lands Aubrey Dunn Jr. ran as an independent. Stansbury won the election with over 60% percent of the vote.[1]
Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico's 1st congressional district announced in 2016, that she would seek the Democratic nomination for the 2018 gubernatorial election.[2] Deb Haaland, the former chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, ran for the seat with the Democratic nomination and won in the 2018 election.[3] She was reelected in the 2020 election.[4]
Haaland was selected by President Joe Biden to serve as Secretary of the Interior and she was approved by the United States Senate by a vote of fifty-one to forty.[5][6] Haaland resigned from her seat on March 16, 2021, and a special election was ordered by the Secretary of State of New Mexico to be held on June 1.[7][8] Each party's state central committee selected their candidate for the special election instead of using a primary system.[9]
Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, a member of the New Mexico Senate who had run in the 2018 Democratic primary for the seat, and Melanie Stansbury, a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives, announced on December 21, 2020, that they would seek the Democratic nomination for the special election.[10][11] On January 4, 2021, Georgene Louis, a member of the state house, announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination.[12] Victor Reyes, the legislator director for Governor Lujan Grisham, announced on January 8, that he would seek the Democratic nomination.[13] Patricia Roybal Caballero, a member of the state house, announced her campaign on January 27.[14]
Stansbury won the nomination after defeating Sedillo Lopez, who had placed first in the first round of voting, in the runoff.[15]
Democratic convention results[36][15] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Candidate | First round votes | First round pct. | Second round votes | Second round pct. |
Melanie Stansbury | 43 | 21.61% | 103 | 51.24% |
Antoinette Sedillo Lopez | 74 | 37.19% | 97 | 48.26% |
Randi McGinn | 34 | 17.09% | Eliminated | |
Victor Reyes | 18 | 9.05% | Eliminated | |
Selinda Guerrero | 13 | 6.53% | Eliminated | |
Georgene Louis | 13 | 6.53% | Eliminated | |
Francisco Fernández | 2 | 1.01% | Eliminated | |
Patricia Roybal Caballero | 1 | 0.50% | Eliminated | |
Abstained | 1 | 0.50% | 1 | 0.50% |
Total | 199 | 100% | 201 | 100% |
State Senator Mark Moores was selected by the Republican state central committee to serve as the Republican candidate in the special election on March 27.[37][38]
Republican convention results[46][47] | ||
---|---|---|
Candidate | Votes | Pct. |
Mark Moores | 49 | 40% |
Eddy Aragon | 34 | 28% |
Elisa Martinez | 20 | 17% |
Jared Vander Dussen | 7 | 6% |
Ronnie Lucero | 6 | 5% |
Michaela Chavez | 5 | 4% |
Jonathan Gonzalez | 0 | 0% |
Total | 121 | 100% |
Aubrey Dunn Jr., who had served as the New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands as a Republican and Libertarian, filed to run as an independent for the seat on January 8, 2021.[13] Laura Olivas and Robert Ornelas ran as write-in candidates.[49]
Source | Ranking | As of |
---|---|---|
The Cook Political Report[54] | Likely D | June 1, 2021 |
Inside Elections[55] | Solid D | May 7, 2021 |
Sabato's Crystal Ball[56] | Likely D | May 26, 2021 |
Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[a] |
Margin of error |
Melanie Stansbury (D) |
Mark Moores (R) |
Aubrey Dunn (I) |
Chris Manning (L) |
Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RRH Elections (R) | May 18–21, 2021 | 555 (LV) | ± 4.2% | 49% | 33% | 5% | 3% | 9% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Melanie Stansbury | 79,838 | 60.36% | +2.17% | |
Republican | Mark Moores | 47,111 | 35.62% | −6.19% | |
Independent | Aubrey Dunn Jr. | 3,534 | 2.67% | N/A | |
Libertarian | Chris Manning | 1,734 | 1.31% | N/A | |
Write-in | 46 | 0.03% | N/A | ||
Total votes | 132,263 | 100.0% | |||
Democratic hold |
County | Melanie Stansbury Democratic |
Mark Moores Republican |
Various candidates Other parties |
Margin | Total votes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
Bernalillo | 74,181 | 61.40% | 41,984 | 34.75% | 4,641 | 3.84% | 32,197 | 26.65% | 120,806 |
Sandoval | 3,686 | 59.36% | 2,289 | 36.86% | 235 | 3.78% | 1,397 | 22.50% | 6,210 |
Santa Fe | 611 | 38.94% | 875 | 55.77% | 83 | 5.29% | −264 | −16.83% | 1,569 |
Torrance | 945 | 34.43% | 1,503 | 54.75% | 297 | 10.82% | −558 | −20.33% | 2,745 |
Valencia | 415 | 44.58% | 460 | 49.41% | 56 | 6.01% | −45 | −4.83% | 931 |
Totals | 79,838 | 60.36% | 47,111 | 35.62% | 5,314 | 4.02% | 32,727 | 24.74% | 132,263 |