Democrat Melanie Stansbury wins House seat to replace Deb Haaland
02 June 2021
Democrat Melanie Stansbury defeated her Republican opponent Mark Moores in the special election to represent New Mexico's 1st congressional district, a House seat vacated when Deb Haaland was confirmed as President Biden's Interior secretary, per AP.
Why it matters: Stansbury's victory Tuesday night will grow Democrats' thin majority in the House to nine seats.
The big picture: Though Biden won the Democratic-leaning by 23 points in November, the race was seen as a potential litmus test for the strength of the party.
- Stansbury was selected to run by New Mexico Democratic officials in April over Latina and Native American candidates. State law allows for state parties to pick their nominees instead of conducting primary elections.
- Moores, who serves in New Mexico's state legislature with Stansbury, campaigned heavily on crime and law-and-order rhetoric, per the New York Times.
- Republicans are likely to focus on the issue ahead of the 2022 midterms, when oddsmakers expect the party to win control of the House.
Go deeper: Democrats pick white woman over Latinas, Native Americans for Haaland seat
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.