Election 2026: Teacher and conservation leader join list of Hawke’s Bay candidates

Candidates Matt Shepherd (Wairarapa) and Rachel Ward (Tukituki). Photos / Supplied

The list of candidates vying for Hawke’s Bay seats at the upcoming general election is growing, with a teacher and conservation leader joining the contest.

To date, a dozen candidates have been publicly announced for Hawke’s Bay’s four electorates ahead of the November 7 election.

The electorates are Napier, Tukituki, Wairarapa and Ikaroa-Rāwhiti.

More candidates are expected to be named in the coming weeks, including Labour’s Tukituki candidate to challenge incumbent Catherine Wedd (National) and high-profile Tukituki candidate Taine Randell (NZ First).

The Opportunity Party, which won 2.2% of the party vote in the 2023 election and wants to crack the 5% threshold to enter Parliament this time, has recently named Rachel Ward as its Tukituki candidate and Matt Shepherd as its Wairarapa candidate.

The Wairarapa electorate covers a large chunk of Central Hawke’s Bay, including Waipukurau and Waipawa.

Shepherd, 31, is a relief teacher in primary and intermediate schools, and was formerly a Navy chef.

He said his main goal was to promote a party vote for Opportunity, rather than win the Wairarapa electorate.

“I’m not going to reject people if they want to vote for me, but my primary message is to let people know that Opportunity is a party vote.”

He said there were “no easy fixes” for a lot of issues, such as cost of living, and Opportunity offered something different to voters to make change.

As for education, he said he would like to see smaller class sizes introduced.

“Teacher-to-student ratios will have the biggest impact on kids long term.”

Shepherd has not previously lived in the Wairarapa electorate, and is now basing himself between Lower Hutt and Masterton.

Ward, a Havelock North mum of two, is the general manager of Cape Sanctuary, a privately-owned wildlife sanctuary at Cape Kidnappers.

Ward said conservation advocacy was the driver for her pursuing politics.

“Working in conservation in New Zealand is very rewarding, but also very frustrating as well.”

She said there were a lot of improvements that could be made, which could have wide-reaching impacts.

“Our habitat is the foundation of everything we do, so we really have to look after it and restore nature,” she said.

“Looking at the current state of our fresh water, almost 50% of our rivers and lakes are unswimmable.

“I’m 40, and when I was a child I was swimming in rivers all the time, and my kids can’t do that.”

She said one thing she’d like to see, for example, was the national co-ordination of all the projects happening across the country.

“There is a lot of amazing work being done, but it is quite unco-ordinated and fragmented. So, doing national frameworks for those and [putting] national goals in place.”

There is still plenty of time for candidates to be announced, with official candidate nominations (through the Electoral Commission) opening on September 7 and closing October 8, when the official list of candidates is released.

Candidates announced to date

Napier: incumbent Katie Nimon (National), Alex Hedley (Labour)

Tukituki: incumbent Catherine Wedd (National), Taine Randell (NZ First), Rachel Ward (Opportunity), Kaleb Hawkins (Independent)

Wairarapa: incumbent Mike Butterick (National), Kieran McAnulty (Labour), Matt Shepherd (Opportunity)

Ikaroa-Rāwhiti: incumbent Cushla Tangaere-Manuel (Labour), Haley Maxwell (Te Pāti Māori), Heather Te Au-Skipworth (Green)

*More candidates are still to be announced