Labour's Kelvin Davis says his win in the crucial Te Tai Tokerau seat marks a new beginning for the region.
In his fourth tilt at the northernmost Maori seat, the Labour MP - who re-entered Parliament when Shane Jones stepped down just a few months ago - won 8442 votes, 1119 ahead of his long-time rival, Mana Movement leader Hone Harawira.
Mr Harawira, however, has yet to concede defeat, saying he will wait until special votes are counted.
Mr Davis and supporters gathered at Kawakawa's Klondike Tavern, along with Northland Labour candidate Willow-Jean Prime, to watch the results come in. With polls predicting a knife-edge result the mood was tense at first with Mr Harawira a few hundred votes ahead early in the count. About 9pm cheers rang out when Mr Davis pulled ahead by a mere 11 votes. As the night wore on his lead kept growing and the former school principal relaxed visibly.
His win, if confirmed once special votes are tallied, was "a new beginning for Tai Tokerau".
"It's time to focus on the needs of the people, to make people's lives better up here," he said.
Mr Davis believed there would be "real regrets" in the Mana camp about their alliance with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party.
From the outset he believed it would work in his favour.
"I thought, 'People won't accept this'. It was his [Mr Harawira's] Achilles heel."
Other factors contributing to his victory included a better campaign, focusing on West Auckland and the North Shore, and the way his message was starting to resonate, particularly around eradicating domestic and sexual violence.
A Native Affairs poll last week showed the issues of greatest concern to Tai Tokerau voters were the very issues he had chosen to campaign on.
Mr Davis said he had been optimistic but not over-confident: "I've been here three times before, and come short each time."
Mr Harawira had called him but had yet to concede defeat.
"I think he has to deal with it in his own way. He rang me and that was nice. I know how he feels and I wish him all the best."
Mr Davis was disappointed with the overall result for Labour but said it would be a chance to rebuild.
Meanwhile, Mr Harawira and his supporters gathered at the school he and his wife Hilda founded near Awanui, Te Rangi Aniwaniwa, where the mood became increasingly subdued as counting progressed. Mr Harawira went home well before the final result was announced.
The veteran activist and politician said he had been "ganged up on" by the entire political establishment, with National, NZ First and the Maori Party telling their supporters to cast their electorate vote for Mr Davis.
He did not blame his alliance with Kim Dotcom, saying he had also received a lot of positive feedback about Internet-Mana's focus on youth and technology.
The return of all but one of the seven Maori seats was one of the few consolations for Labour in an otherwise dismal result for the party.
The official election results, including special votes, will be declared on October 4.