PERSON: Melanie Ann Stansbury

New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District

Representative

Melanie Ann Stansbury (born January 31, 1979) is an American politician and scientist serving as the U.S. representative from New Mexico’s 1st congressional district since 2021. The district includes most of Albuquerque and most of its suburbs. A Democrat, Stansbury was formerly a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives from the 28th district.

Stansbury was born in Farmington, New Mexico, and raised in Albuquerque. After graduating from Cibola High School in 1997, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in human ecology and natural science from Saint Mary’s College of California in 2002. She then earned a Master of Science in development sociology with a minor in American Indian studies from Cornell University in 2007, where she was a PhD candidate.

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 and U.S. Representative Deb Haaland speak about the Green New Deal in 2019.
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 state’s energy conservation and water resource management. She served as the vice chair of the Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee.

Upon Stansbury’s resignation from the state legislature, the Bernalillo County Commission appointed Pamelya Herndon as her replacement.

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