Former broadcaster Oriini Kaipara has won the Auckland Māori seat of Tāmaki Makaurau for Te Pāti Māori after beating Labour’s Peeni Henare.
Kaipara becomes the sixth Te Pāti Māori MP, filling the seat of the late Takutai Tarsh Kemp who also beat Henare for the seat in the 2023 general election by a slim 42 votes. Henare had held the seat for several terms from 2014-2023.
The by-election was triggered by Kemp’s death in June at age 50 after being diagnosed with kidney disease.
Henare remains in Parliament as a list MP but the by-election loss means he does not have the mandate of Tāmaki Makaurau, a role he prized.
Speaking from a packed venue in Auckland’s Te Atatū Peninsula soon after Henare had conceded, Kaipara said she was “over the moon” by a win and ready to enter Parliament.
“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for my whānau, my friends, my supporters.”
Party leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi were among the supporters at the venue – cheering, singing and dancing as the results came in.
People burst into applause and began singing “We are family” when Kaipara walked into the venue. Her co-leaders embraced her.
In a speech, Kaipara paid tribute to Kemp by singing a waiata before thanking the Tāmaki Makaurau voters for giving her “the mandate that you entrusted to Takutai”.
She also acknowledged Henare, saying she was looking forward to “fighting a good fight alongside you, Marama [Davidson], all our Māori MPs” in Parliament.
“I have enough experience [for Parliament], I believe, in terms of not just the last six weeks [of the byelection] but 20 years of journalism, understanding politics, interviewing politicians, has given me enough of an insight of what to expect.
“But right now, it is about celebrating. I was not expecting that result, to be honest ... I want to really acknowledge Peeni and his whānau.”
Henare conceded just before the Electoral Commission released the 88% mark of the vote tally, a figure that showed Kaipara had a 2666-vote lead over Henare.
In a speech to supporters, Henare said he was really proud of the campaign. He thanked his supporters, whānau and Labour Party colleagues following an “extremely” challenging race.
“I’m really proud of the campaign we ran.”
“The number one opposition in this campaign was this terrible Government ... what tonight has done has inspired me and given us even more motivation as a collective to do something about it next year,” he said, acknowledging the 2026 General Election.
“We made it clear from the start, it would take all of us to beat them and guess what, we still have an opportunity to do that.”
He said: “Tomorrow the sun will rise. And when it does, we’ll be there to feel its warmth.”
Speaking of Kaipara, Henare said: “Full credit to her.” Asked if she would be an asset to Parliament, he responded: “Only time will tell.”
A supporter of Henare’s, who did not want to be named, said they were shocked at the results coming in.
“He’s a good candidate. I didn’t think it would go this way.”
Tāmaki Makaurau has almost 44,000 enrolled voters. Data from the Electoral Commission shows 9377 people voted. Kaipara got 6031 votes to Henare’s 3093.
Henare touched on the low voter turnout, saying it was also another issue they needed to continue to work on - to get people out to vote.
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.