Labour was second in the party vote with 10,259, NZ First was third with 4684 and the Green Party was fourth with 1872.
Mr Simpson watched those results come through in Thames with a group of National Party faithful.
"A lot of the people that were there had been scrutineering, working the phone banks and things like that . . . so it was good to get together with a group of hard-working supporters."
Yesterday he was doing a road trip around the region thanking people and was due to head to Wellington today.
"We'll have our first caucus meeting and then there's a wee bit of uncertainly while the post-election negotiations go on.
"But as far as I'm concerned around the electorate, it's business as usual."