Is a Democratic Landslide in New Mexico's Congressional Special Election a Sign? |
Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=34751"><span class="small">Elliot Hannon, Slate</span></a> |
Thursday, 03 June 2021 08:26 |
Hannon writes: "Democrat Melanie Stansbury won overwhelmingly in a special election for a suburban House seat in New Mexico on Tuesday, tallying 60 percent of the vote en route to a 25-point win over Republican state Sen. Mark Moores."
Is a Democratic Landslide in New Mexico's Congressional Special Election a Sign?03 June 21
The 25-point walloping appears to show that Democratic support for Biden is holding, as the party tries to hold onto its slim advantage in the House while simultaneously fighting against the American electorate’s habit of returning the opposition party to power in the House in the cycle after a newly elected president takes office. Stansbury’s opponent ran almost entirely on the rise in crime in the Albuquerque-based district in an effort to make the race a referendum on crime, a line of attack that is surely going to be front and center of the Republican election effort in 2022 amid elevated national crime rates on the tail of the pandemic.
Tuesday’s margin will calm Democratic nerves on the popularity of its agenda and the party’s vulnerability to crime-related campaign tactics, but the win does come with a number of caveats that make universal lessons a bit harder to parse. Democrats took far more interest and invested far more resources in the race as national Republicans largely stayed on the sidelines. Stansbury raised three times more money, allowing her to blanket the local airwaves, while receiving a wave of visits from high-profile Democrats to maintain enthusiasm. |