Familiar faces have taken the mayoralty in our three biggest cities, but this year’s local body elections also contained several surprises, and some big winners and losers.
While low voter turnout was a constant theme, and more than 200 candidates across the country were elected unopposed, some areas such as Hastings were hotly contested.
Three years ago, Wayne Brown stormed into Auckland Council with an agenda to cut wasteful spending in the Super City and deliver on large infrastructure projects, such as the City Rail Link.
Now he’s back for three more, with Aucklanders backing his “Fix Auckland” campaign to re-elect him as mayor in an emphatic win.
Brown told the Herald at his waterfront press conference: “I’m relieved, quite frankly.”
He confirmed Desley Simpson as his Deputy Mayor.
Brown said he was here to “finish the job that I’ve started” and planned for the council to spend on “less dumb stuff”.
“I haven’t quite finished everything I’ve set out to fix.
“I’m looking forward to getting my hands on AT. It’s taken me three years.”
Brown received 146,642 votes in the initial count - about 90,000 clear of rival Kerrin Leoni, who received 56,612 votes. Brown had 54% of the vote, Leoni received 21%.
In local board seats for Auckland, former National MP Jamie-Lee Ross failed to win a seat on the Howick Local Board and revive his political career.
Mike Lee secured his seat after fighting for another term in the central Waitematā and Gulf seat.
Auckland’s celebrity councillors faced a mixture of results, with The Real Housewives reality TV star Anne Batley-Burton failing to be re-elected to the Waitematā Local Board.
Oscar Kightley, the Sione’s Wedding and The Naked Samoans star, had better luck, winning back his seat on the Henderson-Massey local board.
Former Labour Party leader Andrew Little pulled off a mayoral victory in Wellington with a “healthy lead” over his counterparts.
Last-minute voters in Wellington rushed to cast ballots at Te Awe Library in the CBD.
Following the win, Little admitted going for the Wellington mayoralty hadn’t been part of his life plan just one year ago.
He said his council faced the task to “build back trust”.
“Under my leadership Wellingtonians can expect a council that is solely focused on what’s best for the city, and that is my clear expectation,” Little said.
Affordable housing and water reform changes were the biggest challenges facing Wellington council, he said.
Little was picked early on as the favourite to lead the council in the capital, but opposing candidates added plenty of colour to the mayoral race.
A clown, an ice-cream chain owner and a candidate for the Silly Hat Party were all vying for people’s votes during the past few weeks.
Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung made the biggest stir during the campaign, after emailing salacious allegations about former mayor Tory Whanau and having to issue an apology.
Chung said his poor result in the mayoral race came as a shock. He told the Herald at his election day function he “certainly didn’t expect the gap to be so big”.
Whanau missed out on winning a Māori ward seat and will no longer be on Wellington council. She reacted to the news in a post on social media saying, “democracy has spoken”.
Eight-term Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy also faced a bitter defeat after being ousted after 24 years.
If Guppy had won a ninth term, the 71-year-old would have been on par with Gisborne Mayor Harry Barker, who served for 27 years during the 1950s to 1970s.
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins thanked Guppy for his “incredible innings”.
Elsewhere in Wellington, Hutt City elected local league legend Fauono Ken Laban as new mayor.
Phil Mauger has successfully been re-elected as Christchurch’s mayor after third-term councillor Sara Templeton was easily defeated.
An initial count had Mauger winning with a majority of almost 20,000 votes over rival Templeton. By mid-afternoon, Templeton had conceded defeat.
“Going into this campaign, I always knew it would be a tough ask to beat an incumbent mayor, but it was important that residents had a real choice,” Templeton said.
Mauger said he was “very grateful” to the people of Christchurch.
“I don’t want to lose momentum. Christchurch has been in the doldrums for 15 years and has been shooting out of it like a rocket,” he said.
Auckland’s voter turnout was sitting at 23.1% on Friday evening but was expected to rise with voting on Saturday, while Wellington’s was higher at 35.79%.
But not every district in New Zealand was struggling with flailing engagement. Hawke’s Bay’s elections had a significant bounce-back in voter turnout and Kaipara District Council recorded the highest voter turnout for the past six years.
An extremely tight race in Hastings meant the mayoralty will be decided by special votes.
Initial results put Wendy Schollum as the new Mayor of Hastings, with 6177 votes. Her closest rival Marcus Buddo was just 324 votes behind, however, and chose not to concede on Saturday afternoon, instead waiting for the final results.
Former National Party MP Tim Macindoe became Hamilton’s new Mayor.
Macindoe said he received a call from council chief executive Lance Vervoort with the news.
He said he was “absolutely elated and very honoured” by the result.
In the Far North, Moko Tepania was re-elected Mayor.
In 2022, he made history as the Far North’s first Māori mayor. Aged 31 at the time, the te reo Māori teacher was also the youngest mayor elected in Northland.
The Far North also looked to retain its Māori ward, with a majority voting in favour of keeping the four-seat ward established at the last election.
There was no election for Tauranga City Council this year because Hamilton Mayor Mahé Drysdale and councillors agreed to a special four-year term.
In Rotorua, Mayor Tania Tapsell said following re-election she was “incredibly humbled” from the support from the city.
Rotorua’s Trevor Maxwell was re-elected in a Māori ward seat and will now become New Zealand’s outright longest-serving councillor. Maxwell, in his late 70s, previously told the Herald he planned for this to be his final term.
Lots of last-minute voters opted for a drive-thru option to place their ballot in New Plymouth, gifting Max Brough the win as new Mayor.
Nearby, Whanganui re-elected Andrew Tripe as mayor for his second term.
In the deep south, Invercargill’s initial results had Deputy Mayor Tom Campbell taking the top job.
Following a controversial mayoralty, Nobby Clark retired from the race early, but his brother Andrew Clark stood for mayoralty in Invercargill and Tasman, but missed out on both spots.
In a previous Herald interview, Clark, who lives in Tasman but has worked in Invercargill on several occasions, said he had been encouraged to stand in both communities.
After receiving 9000 votes on the day, Dunedin City Council was calling Sophie Barker the Mayor-elect, but said results could change as the extra votes were still being counted.
This year’s local elections saw a return of the old but also some new fresh-faced candidates bursting onto the scene.
In Gore, New Zealand’s youngest mayor Ben Bell, was successfully re-elected for a second term.
Bell was just 23 when elected and faced a difficult first term after his relationship with then-CEO Stephen Parry soured among widespread calls for Bell to step down.
Auckland’s teen candidate Bianca O’Keefe, at just 18, ran for one of the six seats on the Waitākere Ranges local board, but failed to make the cut.
The official final results following the special vote count will be released by October 17.
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