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Christopher Manning
Christopher Manning (Libertarian Party) ran in a special election to the U.S. House to represent New Mexico's 1st Congressional District. He lost in the special general election on June 1, 2021.
Biography
Manning received a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Arizona State University. He served in the U.S. Army National Guard from 2006 to 2012, with a deployment to Afghanistan from 2007 to 2008.[1]
2021 battleground election
Melanie Ann Stansbury (D) defeated Mark Moores (R) and four other candidates in New Mexico's 1st Congressional District special election on June 1, 2021. The election was called following incumbent Debra Haaland’s (D) confirmation as secretary of the interior for the Biden administration on March 15, 2021.[2] Stansbury received 60% of the vote to Moores' 36%. No other candidate received more than 5% of the vote.[3]
The Democratic Party nominated Stansbury at a convention on March 31.[4] The Republican Party nominated Moores at a convention on March 27.[5] Aubrey Dunn (I), Christopher Manning (L), write-in Laura Olivas (I), and write-in Robert Ornelas (I) also ran in the election.
Haaland was first elected to represent New Mexico’s 1st in 2018. She won re-election in 2020 against Michelle Garcia Holmes (R) 58.2% to 41.8%. New Mexico's 1st was rated Solid Democratic during the 2020 general election. The district last elected a Republican in 2006, when Heather Wilson (R) was re-elected. In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden (D) defeated Donald Trump (R) in the district 60.2% to 37.4%.[6]
The outcome of this race affected partisan control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 117th Congress. At the time of the election, Democrats had a 219 to 211 majority over Republicans. Five seats were vacant. As of October 26, 2025, 17 special elections have been called during the 117th Congress. From the 113th Congress to the 116th Congress, 50 special elections were held. For more data on historical congressional special elections, click here.
Elections
2021
See also: New Mexico's 1st Congressional District special election, 2021
General election
Special general election for U.S. House New Mexico District 1
The following candidates ran in the special general election for U.S. House New Mexico District 1 on June 1, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Melanie Ann Stansbury (D) | 60.4 | 79,838 |
 | Mark Moores (R) | 35.6 | 47,111 | |
 | Aubrey Dunn (Independent) | 2.7 | 3,534 | |
 | Christopher Manning (L) | 1.3 | 1,734 | |
 | Laura Olivas (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 40 | |
 | Robert Ornelas (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 6 | |
| Total votes: 132,263 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic convention runoff
Special Democratic convention runoff for U.S. House New Mexico District 1
Melanie Ann Stansbury defeated Antoinette Sedillo Lopez in the special Democratic convention runoff for U.S. House New Mexico District 1 on March 31, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Melanie Ann Stansbury (D) | 51.2 | 103 |
 | Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D) | 48.3 | 97 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 1 | ||
| Total votes: 201 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic convention
Special Democratic convention for U.S. House New Mexico District 1
The following candidates ran in the special Democratic convention for U.S. House New Mexico District 1 on March 30, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D) | 37.2 | 74 |
| ✔ | | Melanie Ann Stansbury (D) | 21.6 | 43 |
| Randi McGinn (D) | 17.1 | 34 | ||
| Victor Reyes (D) | 9.0 | 18 | ||
 | Selinda Guerrero (D) | 6.5 | 13 | |
 | Georgene Louis (D) | 6.5 | 13 | |
| Francisco Fernandez (D) | 1.0 | 2 | ||
 | Patricia Roybal Caballero (D) | 0.5 | 1 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 1 | ||
| Total votes: 199 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican convention
Special Republican convention for U.S. House New Mexico District 1
The following candidates ran in the special Republican convention for U.S. House New Mexico District 1 on March 27, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mark Moores (R) | 40.5 | 49 |
 | Eddy Aragon (R) | 28.1 | 34 | |
 | Elisa Martinez (R) | 16.5 | 20 | |
 | Jared Vander Dussen (R) | 5.8 | 7 | |
| Ronnie Lucero (R) | 5.0 | 6 | ||
 | Michaela Chavez (R) | 4.1 | 5 | |
| Jonathan Gonzalez (R) | 0.0 | 0 | ||
| Total votes: 121 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Campaign finance
The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
District analysis
- See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
- See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores
The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was , meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were the national average. This made Christopher Manning the nationally.[7]
FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was . This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move points toward that party.[8]
2018
General election
General election for U.S. House New Mexico District 3
Incumbent Ben Ray Luján defeated Jerald Steve McFall and Christopher Manning in the general election for U.S. House New Mexico District 3 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ben Ray Luján (D) | 63.4 | 155,201 |
 | Jerald Steve McFall (R) | 31.2 | 76,427 | |
| Christopher Manning (L) | 5.4 | 13,265 | |
| Total votes: 244,893 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3
Incumbent Ben Ray Luján advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ben Ray Luján | 100.0 | 63,909 |
| Total votes: 63,909 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3
Jerald Steve McFall advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jerald Steve McFall | 100.0 | 20,480 |
| Total votes: 20,480 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Libertarian primary election
Libertarian primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3
Christopher Manning advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Christopher Manning | 100.0 | 201 |
| Total votes: 201 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2021
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Christopher Manning did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Christopher Manning participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on May 6, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Christopher Manning's responses follow below.[9]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | Giving parents and local communities greater control over their children's education. Politicians in Washington D.C. shouldn't tell you what and how your children are educated.
Returning to a policy of fiscal responsibility. In the late 1990's we had a strong economy and a federal surplus. The economy is very strong right now and there is no excuse for politicians to be adding a trillion dollars a year to the deficit.[10][11] |
” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | I'm passionate about civil liberties. I believe that is one of the most critical roles of government, the defense of those liberties. I don't believe in picking and choosing which of your natural or constitutional rights I defend and I don't believe in picking and choosing for whom those rights are defended.
I'm also passionate about doing what is best for our active duty military and veterans. As a veteran myself I have seen the good and bad of the VA health care system and the toll that 17 years of constant warfare has had on our military. It's time to bring our troops home and allow our military the chance to rest and recover.Cite error: Invalid |
” |
Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Christopher Manning answered the following:
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow and why?
| “ | I look up to Theodore Roosevelt. One of the things I learned from reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's book "The Bully Pulpit" was that TR drove the Republican party officials crazy because he would often publicly discuss the good and bad aspects of every legislation. In politics this is a major sin because your party's legislation should always be described as 100% positive and opposing party legislation as 100% negative. This ideal lead to my slogan, "Principles Over Party Politics" I think it is more important to honestly discuss the merits of legislation.[11] | ” |
| “ | I think it's important for elected officials to have two characteristics, integrity and honesty. We need to believe the people we elect are people of integrity who won't abuse their positions of power and we need to believe they are honest with us. Unfortunately, politicians too often switch what they publicly say about a topic based on who is the party in power.[11] | ” |
| “ | I'm not interested in a "legacy" I don't have any intention of spending the rest of my life in D.C. If I am elected I will only stay as long as I am able to get results. If I'm unable to pass legislation that benefits New Mexicans there is no reason for me stay in office.[11] | ” |
Biographical submission response
Manning answered the question, "What is your political philosophy?" on Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form. Below is his response:
| “ | I'm fiscally conservative, a civil libertarian, and socially liberal[11] | ” |
| —Christopher Manning[1] | ||
See also
2021 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted on Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form on May 6, 2018
- ↑ NPR, "Deb Haaland Confirmed As 1st Native American Interior Secretary," March 15, 2021
- ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "Election Results: Special Congressional Election June 1, 2021," accessed June 3, 2021
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "Stansbury chosen as Democratic nominee for special election," March 31, 2021
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "Mark Moores will be Republican CD1 candidate," March 27, 2021
- ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012," accessed April 20, 2021
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Christopher Manning's responses," May 6, 2018
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
