ACT leader David Seymour says he hasn't drunk alcohol since December 2018.
He told Chris Lynch on Newstalk ZB's Canterbury mornings that he was sick of feeling hungover after going to events.
"I thought... I should have a go at not drinking... I thought 'that's crazy', then I thought 'no, no, just for a month'.
"It got to the end of January last year and I never looked back.
"I reckon it saves you an hour of day of extra energy."
When Lynch said everybody expects people to be their "taxi service", Seymour quipped "You should see my driving sober".
He added that he would have denied New Zealand had a drinking problem 10 years ago.
"Two years ago you'd ask for Heineken Zero, they'd look at you like you'd said you want to vote for the Green Party or something like that... but our culture is rapidly shifting."
Seymour is campaigning in Christchurch today.
While on Newstalk ZB he said he thinks the housing crisis centers around too much red tape.
"Right now we spend more time getting permission to build homes than actually building them.
"We have to, first of all, get a new urban development act to replace the Resource Management Act."
Seymour has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the polls in the past year, moving from 1 per cent to 8 per cent and putting him ahead of Labour's coalition partners, the Green Party and NZ First.
Last week's 1 News-Colmar Brunton poll put Act on 8 per cent which would give it 11 seats in Parliament.
Seymour has been the party's sole MP for the past six years thanks to his deal with the National party to give him the Epsom electorate.
The most MPs Act has ever got into parliament since it first stood for election in 1996 is nine.
He has ruled out any governing agreement with Labour, and insisted a National-Act coalition would happen "by a whisker".
In last week's minor party leaders debate, Seymour took criticism from all sides, in particular over his support for a contact tracing card and his plan to reduce benefits to pre-Covid levels.
Seymour had argued that New Zealand needed to get "Taiwan-smart" with new technology like a CovidCard so it could maintain elimination without lockdowns.
His visit to Christchurch follows from Seymour's campaigning in Auckland last week.
He held a barbecue at Mission Bay on Saturday in a bid to highlight the party's policy for infrastructure - partnerships between local government and the private sector to deliver things like fixing the sewerage pipes so they do not spew into the beaches.
Today, the 37-year-old ACT leader will visit several local businesses while on the campaign trail in Christchurch.
He will visit Metalcorp NZ in Hornby at 12.15pm, then the R&N Beattie Partnership for tree planting in Lansdowne at 2pm.
He will finish the day at Westfield Riccarton Mall at 4pm.
He has since sobered up and re-evaluated his life choices, his lawyer says.
