Tauranga Labour Candidate Jan Tinetti (left) and Bay of Plenty Candidate Angie Warren-Clark. Photo/Andrew Warner
Both Jan Tinetti and Angie Warren-Clarke have called their National counterparts to congratulate them on winning the seats for Tauranga and Bay of Plenty.
Both candidates have received about 8500 votes in each electorate in the votes counted so far.
Tinetti said she was "a little disappointed" with the party vote but was excited to be heading to parliament as a Labour MP for Tauranga.
Warren-Clark also said she was disappointed at the electoral vote having come a few thousand votes short but was excited for her fellow party member Tinetti and for Bay candidate Todd Muller.
Both candidates were very pleased with the big increase in Labour votes since the last election.
Tinetti's husband Dave Merton said his wife had wanted to make a change in Tauranga and she had.
"She wanted to do the best at it she could," he said. "We knew it was a very blue town and she has had a tough time standing up for social issues."
Merton said he was once a teacher a Merivale School where Mrs Tinetti worked as principal.
"We have dealt with the results of that part of society, the homelessness, and the kids who did not have those opportunities to do things.
"That is how Jan got into this because she was caught up with the day to day dealings within the school. She was speaking out for the kids."
Wearing a T-shirt with "Jacinda Stardust" on the front, Mr Merton said it had been exhausting since Tinetti was encouraged to stand for the electorate this time last year.
"We had a Merivale School student commit suicide and that just blew us apart and she was approached by people saying she should stand.
"You can do so much as a principal and she wanted to go that extra step."
He said it had been a dramatic change for the family since she put her hand up as Tauranga candidate in January.
"I have likened it to a big exam," he said. "She has had to learn the party's policies to be able to articulate them and understand them."
Merton said Tinetti had learned a lot but still had a lot to learn.
"She has said she was in it for the long haul," he said. "She wants to make a difference and she will."
Both Labour candidates were dressed top to toe in red dresses at the Tauranga Fish and Dive club.
The red crowd counted down from 10 as the election coverage came on the television and cheered the party's slogan "Let's do this".
There was a big cheer for Jan Tinetti when the voting numbers showed on the television.
The numbers showed over 7000 votes had been counted for Mrs Tinetti and the party vote was sitting at about 25 per cent for Tauranga.
There was a loud "boo" when Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett showed face on the television.
Tinetti said she was disappointed at the current counted party vote of 35 per cent for Labour and 46 per cent for National. She had been keeping count so far and had compared voting numbers to the last election.
"Last time in Tauranga we got just over 14 per cent in the party vote and we are sitting at the moment at 43.4 per cent and 24.5 per cent on the party vote. So I think we are doing okay."
Tinetti said it was looking likely she would be going into parliament.
"I am sitting at number five on the list," she said. "So from that point I am comfortable but I would like us to be doing more."
She said the nerves still had not settled.
"But if things keep going the way they are it is looking good for me," she said. "As far as Tauranga goes we are in the roads."
Tinetti said the numbers so far represented a really good Labour campaign in this election.
"Last year we were the third party behind National and New Zealand First," she said. "This time we are clearly second at this point. That is testament to the fact we have run a really strong campaign."
Tinetti said despite Labour's position so far, the vibe in the Tauranga Fish and Dive Club was good.
"Labour is on the up in this city," she said.
Tinetti was saddened to hear Tauranga independent candidate Rusty Kane said he had been "kicked out" of the Labour party event at Tauranga Fish and Dive Club.
She was not aware he had even entered the club and said she would send him a text message to clear that up. "I would have invited him in," she said.
Warren-Clark said the nerves had settled down a bit as the night went on.
She said she had been too busy socialising to notice the votes being counted on the television.
Warren-Clark said she had always known National's Bay of Plenty candidate Todd Muller would win the seat but she had been campaigning for the party vote.
"Our goal was to get 10,000 votes for the electoral vote. But we are all about the party vote."
There was a big cheer from supporters when the votes for the Bay of Plenty electorate showed on the television.
The votes showed Warren-Clarke's votes had increased to about 7000. Her goal tonight is to receive at least 10,000 votes in the electoral vote by the end of the night.
Her family was at the Labour party election event at the fish and dive club tonight.
Her daughter Danah Te Rupe, 23, had flown in from Australia to be with her mother tonight.
Miss Te Rupe said her mother had been very busy campaigning in the lead-up to the election.
"She has been super hard to get in contact with," she said. "We flew in last night and I did not see her until this morning."
But she was "super proud" of her mother nonetheless.
"I always thought this was something she would be into but I just did not know when that was going to happen," she said. "If she gets in that will be great, but if she does not I will always be proud of her."
Miss Te Rupe said she had always been a Labour voter.
"I have only been able to vote for the last two elections."
Miss Te Rupe's partner Ethan McKenzie said if Labour won the election they would address more of the country's social issues including the country's suicide rates and poverty as well as cleaner water and rivers.
Down at Labour headquarters in Tauranga...
Posted by Bay of Plenty Times on Saturday, 23 September 2017
Louis Donovan, 16, Courtney Bignell, 16, Peter Kesner, 16, Sherri Atkins, 23, and Tommi Evans, 16, are the youngest contingent of Labour supporters at the party's election event tonight.
Louis Donovan said he got involved with the party this time last year.
"I was really committed when Jan and Angie became candidates," he said.
Leading up to the election Mr Donovan has been helping the party campaign with phone calling and data entry.
"There were phone calls every Wednesday night for three months and the two weeks closest to the election there were phone calls every night," he said.
"We just want to support them."
Sherry Atkins, 23, said she supported the Labour Party because of its "fresh approach".
"It is great to see our generation represented," she said.
"The most important thing is their inclusive approach."
She believed Jan Tinetti and Angie Warren-Clarke made great candidates for Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty.
"I think they are committed to the community."
Tommi Evans said she wanted a change and believed with party leader Jacinda Arden in power that change would happen for New Zealand.
Leo Mangos moved from Cromwell, Central Otago, in 1978.
He was the Bay representative for the New Zealand Fruit Growers Federation and the chairman of the Labour Party Primary Industry Council for 12 years from 1987.
Mr Mangos said each chairperson made up the policy council of the party.
"In that position I was able to influence the party into putting in place the kiwifruit regulations," he said.
"The regulations are the forefront of what Zespri is today."
Mr Mangos said he was criticised for being a communist but he ignored the comments and campaigned to gain the 80 per cent needed to convince the caucus to put the regulations through.
"We got 84 per cent support from the growers."
Mr Mangos said if Labour was voted in power this election it would be a positive for the country.
"Every time we have had a Labour government we have taken two steps forward," he said.
"There is a perception that Labour cannot handle the finances but when Helen Clark was Prime Minister she had a nil overseas debt."
He said the criticism party leader Jacinda Ardern did not have the experience to lead the country as Prime Minister.
"But William Pitt the Younger was the most confident Prime Ministers England ever had and he was very young."
He said Jacinda Arden was very capable to lead NZ.
"Is it not recognised that we reach our peak brain power at age 40.
"She is at her peak mental capacity and there cannot be a better person to be spearheading a social catchup."
He said Miss Arden would have to close the wealth gap between rich and poor and he believed she would be the woman to do it.
"If Labour becomes government I think you will see an excitement in the nation."
11.35pm: National MPs Simon Bridges (Tauranga), Todd Muller (Bay of Plenty) and Todd McClay (Rotorua) have retained their seats, while Waiariki has changed hands from Te Ururoa Flavell (Maori) to Tamati Coffey (Labour).
In Tauranga, Bridges got 19,111 votes, followed by Jan Tinetti (Labour) on 8841 votes and Clayton Mitchell (NZ First) on 4406 votes.
With 98.5 per cent of Bay of Plenty votes counted, Muller has 22,268 votes compared to Angie Warren-Clark (Labour) on 9278 and Lester Gray (NZ First) on 3539 votes.