In her latest FEC report Stansbury raised eyebrows when she reported a mere $54,895 in cash in her campaign account as she prepares for a re-election bid next year. That's about as low a total as you are likely to see for a congressional representative. 

Sine the start of the year through June 30 her contributions totaled only $234,000. That's so little we wondered if Stansbury would seek re-election. We're assured she will but she is apparently on board with the conventional wisdom that her new district, which stretches south into rural New Mexico but is still centered in ABQ, is safe from a Republican takeover. And with good reason. She still has no announced '24 GOP opponent.

In a June 2021 special election held to fill the ABQ seat left vacant when Deb Haaland was named Sec, of Interior, Stansbury won by 25 points over her GOP rival. In '22 she won by 17 points. 

Inside Elections ranks the seat "Solid Democratic."

Stansbury was no fund-raising slouch in that 21-22 cycle, raising and spending $3.5 million (with the help of national money) so it's not as if she doesn't know how to dial for dollars. 

The First Congressional District before redistricting was won by Biden by 23 points. In the new district both will run in next year, he won by 15 percent. That's still too much of a gap to attract national GOP interest. 

The 44 year old Stansbury has been framed as an ambitious politico looking to climb the ladder but her fund-raising efforts tell a different story. Her meager funds are not enough to make a difference in helping fellow Dems nor do they set her up for a run for higher office. But she remains well-positioned to accumulate seniority in the House. 

A former Senate and White House staffer Stansbury is a proud policy nerd focusing much of her time on water and climate (she's on the natural resources committee) but also lays claim to being the most progressive member of the NM congressional delegation. 

As for her small treasury political pros warn it may be too low for this point in the cycle while others welcome the rare sight of a lawmaker not wallowing in campaign dollars. We'll keep posted for when or if she steps on the fund-raising accelerator. 

New Mexico's film industry barely registered in 2003 when Eric Witt, a  media executive in LA who became deputy director of legislative affairs for new Gov. Bill Richardson, began developing incentives to lure the industry here. He succeeded. The state film office says New Mexico in the year ending June 30 saw $794 million spent producing films and TV shows and 8,000 people employed doing it. 

Witt, who had been serving as a senior adviser to MLG since January, was found dead in his garage in Santa Fe Monday. His wife, who was out of town, had requested police conduct a welfare check. Authorities have not said what caused his death. 

Richardson reacted to the news: