Act Party leader David Seymour hopes recent glimmers of hope in the polls are a sign of things to come. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Act Party leader David Seymour only had three drinks in what has been the biggest year of his political life.
One glass of champagne when his highly controversial euthanasia legislation passed its second reading in Parliament; two more when it passed the final vote.
The polarising, 36-year-old libertarian gave up the booze after a few too many functions last Christmas.
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He's lost a lot of weight and - relatively speaking - gained a lot in the polls since.
"It's the best thing I ever did," Seymour explains in a makeshift Parliamentary Library office he's been relegated to by earthquake strengthening elsewhere in the precinct.
At the 2017 election, Seymour became the least successful leader Act had ever had, only collecting 0.5 per cent of the vote and clinging on in Parliament through his Epsom electorate, which the National Party avoids contesting.
"It was a really tough year. Everybody writes you off," Seymour says.
"You lose every argument, even with total idiots, because they say: 'Well you only got half a per cent'."
This month's 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton Poll put Act back on 1.6 per cent – not dramatic, given the margin of error – but perhaps a first glimmer to suggest Seymour could have some company by the end of next year – and provide a much-needed ally for National. Other internal polling is reported to have Act at over 2 per cent.
Seymour won the most significant debate of his career in November, when his End of Life Choice Bill passed its third reading in Parliament – albeit on the condition it will now be sent to a referendum alongside the election.
The bill - which would legalise voluntarily assisted dying for terminally ill adults – passed 69 votes to 51, ending decades of attempts to pass a similar law.
It reflects years of intense work and negotiation by Seymour and has taken up most of his time during this term.
"I don't think about it in terms of legacy – because I'm thinking about what comes next (the referendum), but I'm enormously proud," he says.
"Bear in mind, we've only won the semi-final at this point."
Praise came from unexpected places over his shepherding of the legislation.
New Zealand First and Seymour have bad blood, but it didn't stop MP Tracey Martin, during the final debate on the bill, describing him as a "gentleman of character" for the way he handled the negotiations.
"He has made this issue bigger than him," Martin told the House.
While the bill has done much to broaden Seymour's profile, it may be other lines of attack that are growing his backing.
In the wake of the Christchurch March 15 mosque shootings, Seymour was the only politician that voted against the Government's first tranche of gun reforms.
"Everybody was acting on their instinct. The Prime Minister was a wonderful and popular and compassionate leader and I was the public policy nerd," Seymour says.
At the time he argued the legislation had been rushed and bypassed the proper process, widely out of line with popular sentiment.
He didn't help his cause by missing a key vote to slow the legislation because he was too busy talking to reporters outside Parliament's debating chamber.
But ACT received just over 13,000 votes in 2017 and there are 250,000 registered gun owners in New Zealand.
Lobbying by firearms owners and groups has increased with the Government's second tranche of laws, which are due to be debated in Parliament again next year.
Seymour rejects he was playing cynical politics in April.
"I was more focused on the potential political risk of getting attacked for the whole country for it … at the time it was pretty scary," he says.
"It's not nice to be attacked and have it insinuated, in the worst case scenario, that you're almost supportive of what happened."
He also points to his self-styling a champion of free speech as another possible source of growing attention.
An attack on the "intolerant new left" was part of Act's rebrand – which came with the introduction of Pink to the logo – in June. The party released a policy – its Freedom to Speak Bill – which would have removed parts of the Human Rights Act intended to protect people from hate speech.
But Seymour strongly denies he was trying to tap into far-right or racist sentiments.
"People that say that are in extremely dangerous territory because they're taking a whole swathe of New Zealanders who think freedom of expression is important and typecasting them as radical, racist extremists," he says.
"The idea that I am in any way any kind of sympathiser of Nazis is absolutely absurd."
Last month Act announced it wanted a policy forcing universities to ensure "free speech", pointing to a cancellation of a speech by Don Brash and the controversial Feminism 2020 event at Massey this year as a threat.
For Seymour, it all ties into one broader narrative. Guns rights, free speech, assisted dying are all part, he says, of the same issues he's been pushing for years. This year has just brought them to political foreground.
"There is a common core to it all … That New Zealanders have some basic rights and Parliament should respect them," he says.
"There's a whole range of people who feel under attack. I think the market is a lot bigger than 2 per cent."
And Seymour's not shy to admit he hopes taking an "anti-establishment" bent will steal him some votes from New Zealand First, which has come under pressure from gun groups to oppose the latest tranche of changes.
Bringing in a few more seats next year would give both him and National cause for a few more drinks.
Meanwhile, Seymour's big year in politics has done little for his personal life.
"As a rule of thumb, people who go into Parliament with good relationships come out with either the same, or less than, they started with … It is destructive in that sense," Seymour says.
"Most of friends now have families and houses they live at more than two nights in a row."
He finds himself single as he heads to the United States for Christmas (he's going to see Blues legend Buddy Guy play in Chicago), saying his last relationship was a victim of the all-encompassing nature of his work.
"But there's two-and-a-half million women in New Zealand and one of them has to be that desperate," he jokes.
"It's not very romantic trying to legalise euthanasia."
Seymour's improved year also included and improved return to celebrity dance show Dancing with the Stars.
A cameo during the reality contest in May was significantly better received by judges than his now-notorious, twerk-laden run in 2018.
So has dancing become a love? Does he still occasionally bust a move?
"F**k no," Seymour says. "I wasn't even dancing then."
Much of the South Island is set to plunge below 0C tonight and tomorrow.