Who is Melanie Stansbury? Democrat holds ‘This is Not Normal’ sign during Trump's speech
New Mexico Rep Melanie Stansbury held up a ‘This is Not Normal’ sign beside Trump at the Congress address on Tuesday. A Republican later snatched it from her.
The air was already rife with messy political drama just minutes into the Presidential Joint Address to Congress on Tuesday. A ‘lady in pink’ held out a paper sign that read “This is Not Normal” as she stood next to Donald Trump at the House Chamber, Capitol Hill, on March 4. The woman in question is New Mexico Representative Melania Stansbury.
The US lawmaker joined dozens of Democratic Women's Caucus members in wearing pink as a sign of “power and protest,” directing their fury at Trump and other Republicans during the president's address to Congress. The live broadcast captured the brief moment when she held up the sign in protest, only for it to be ripped out of her hands a second later.
Watch a Republican rip the ‘This is Not Normal’ sign out of a Democrat's hands during Trump's joint Congress address:
Republican Rep Lance Gooden of Texas eventually snatched the piece of paper out of Stansbury's hands and flung it into the air. Regardless, the New Mexico lawmaker was proud to share the snap on her X/Twitter profile. “This is not normal. We will resist,” she tweeted with a picture of the big moment that amassed heavy attention during Donald Trump's Congress address on social media.
Who is Melanie Stansbury?
The New Mexico rep was a top Democrat on the House's DOGE subcommittee, who previously made headlines for her sharp criticism of the Elon Musk-led department. “While we're sitting here, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are recklessly and illegally dismantling the federal government,” she accused them of disadvantageously using the new department to break the law in February.
Melanie Stansbury also took aim at Vice President JD Vance for undermining the judiciary and other Republicans for protecting Musk and Trump as they wielded the power of DOGE. “Come and testify in front of the American people under oath because we want to know what you're up to,” she said at the time, urging Musk to testify before the subcommittee.
As a result of Stansbury holding Musk accountable, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), a nonpartisan, nonprofit org dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in government, named her its “February 2025 Porker of the Month for lambasting cost-cutting proposals by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).”
The congresswoman's official website (https://stansbury.house.gov/) confirms that she was born and raised in New Mexico. Serving New Mexicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, she has “dedicated her career to finding solutions to water issues, poverty, and climate change.”
In addition to stepping up as the Congresswoman from New Mexico’s First Congressional District, Stansbury has previously worked as a STEM educator, researcher on land and water issues and a staffer in the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Why did Democratic women wear pink to Trump's address?
NBC Chicago reported that at least 30 Democratic women, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, were spotted wearing pink outfits on Tuesday. Stansbury's fellow New Mexico Democrat Teresa Leger Fernández, who is also the Democratic Women's Caucus chair, said in a statement, “We stand united in our fury at how Trump and Republicans are harming women and families at every turn to give tax breaks to billionaires. Everything Trump has done has raised costs for America’s women.”
Also read | Trump's speech to Congress live: Fact-checking POTUS' claims on DOGE, Biden, immigration, and more
“We're standing together in pink—the colour of the Women’s March, the colour of persistence—as we continue to fight for our rights. This is a movement by, for, and about women,” vice chair Hillary Scholten, a Democrat from Michigan, shared the sentiment.
Democrats protesting Trump's speech
Ahead of President Trump's speech to Congress, a half dozen Democrats told Axios that they were planning to protest at the event. This is the MAGA leader's first major address since he returned to office in January.
Inviting people who were recently left heartbroken due to Trump and DOGE's massive layoff and federal cuts was one such option for displaying outright disruption. “The part that we all agree on is that this is not business as usual and we would like to find a way — productively — to express our outrage,” a House Democrat told Axios. Another also brought up the possibility of storming out during Trump's speech in the wake of the president's criticism of transgender kids.
