Election 2020: Homecoming – National leader tours Collins country after 'crushing' debate

National leader Judith Collins visits a construction site in Matamata. Photo / Jason Walls

National leader Judith Collins was greeted as somewhat of a returning conquering hero by many of the people in her hometown today.

She was obviously in high spirits after Monday night's debate – a debate that she claimed victory in moments after it was done.

Although she had a spring in her step while touring Matamata today, it was clear the National leader had the latest poll results on her mind.

National still trails Labour by a substantial margin – if the election was today, based on those poll results Labour could govern alone.

Meanwhile, Act have been rising in the polls – taking support away from National.

Collins was clearly mindful of this today – on a number of occasions she urged National supporters not to "strategically vote".

She said that Act were going to get back into Parliament, saying National already "does a deal with them ... in Epsom".

Act's job, she said, was to "take out New Zealand First vote", she told a town hall meeting.

Collins was clear to those who came to see her speak: National needed "two ticks blue".

"The stronger we are, the more people we have, the more we are in a position to actually form a government."

Today's tour of Matamata was the first of its kind for Collins since the election was pushed back, given the movement down the alert levels.

National leader Judith Collins signs a book for Nik Givens, the man who has a tattoo of her on his leg. Photo / Jason Walls

Face masks, social distancing and small crowds were replaced with handshakes, photo ops and regular campaign-sized crowds.

And there was a lot of hand shaking; Collins consistently reminding media that it was, indeed, allowed.

She started her day meeting with a man who made headlines for an unusual reason – he has a tattoo of the National leader on his thigh.

Nik Giver was wearing long pants when meeting Collins for coffee and thus the image of her holding a golden pistol in front of a New Zealand flag was hidden from media.

She did, however, sign a copy of her book for Giver and his partner, Mel, who joined the pair for a cuppa as well.

This was the first of a number of times Collins signed her book throughout the day – one reporter remarked that her tour of Matamata was more akin to a book tour than a support rally.

She toured a construction site for close to an hour, stopping to greet people who told her they are close friends with her brother or that they went to school with her when they were young.

And for a brief moment, there was the return of the Crusher nickname – albite not for Collins.

When walking past a large lime-green construction machine, Collins asked: "is this a crusher? I'm sure it's a crusher".

After the tour, she fronted a town hall-style meeting with roughly 150 supporters.

Clearly still coming off her debate-night high, a lot of her focus was on her showdown with Ardern.

She referenced it a number of times, as did her supporters; one of which told her that she "crushed it".

During her town hall meeting, Collins referenced Ardern's comments that she did not see politics as a "blood sport".

"Poor wee thing," Collins said, before saying that if the Labour leader couldn't handle the heat, she should get out of the kitchen.

But it wasn't all jabs at her political opposition – at one point during her speech to party faithful she was holding back tears when talking about the mental health of farmers.

There needs to be an understanding that it's okay to say "I'm not feeling well", she said.

"I look at it and think, 'every farmer, and every farmers' family needs to know that theirs is valuable work' - that's the best thing we can do."