Senior National Minister Chris Bishop says Andrew Little ‘favourite’ for Wellington mayoralty

• Andrew Little has been described as the “favourite” for Wellington mayor by National’s Chris Bishop.
• Bishop highlighted Little’s experience and said the city needs an “adult in the room”.
• The National Party does not run or officially endorse candidates for local body elections.

Andrew Little may have found an unlikely supporter for the Wellington mayoral race, with a senior National Party minister backing the former Labour leader as the “favourite”.

Little announced last month he was running for the city’s top job.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills, National’s Chris Bishop described Little as the frontrunner for the mayoralty.

“Andrew’s from a different party to me obviously, but he’s an experienced minister, he’s been a senior MP, he’s been a political party leader,” Bishop said.

“But if he does win, and I would say he’s the favourite, then, you know, I look forward to working with him.”

Chris Bishop says he looks forward to working with Andrew Little, if he wins the mayoralty. Photo / Supplied.

Bishop said the capital has “big challenges” especially in his own portfolio areas.

He is currently the minister for Housing, Infrastructure, RMA Reform, and Transport, as well as holding associate responsibility for Sport and Recreation and Finance.

“We’ve got some big issues here, water, housing, infrastructure, congestion, getting a bit of life back into the place.”

He believes the mayoral race would still be a “battle”, rather than a coronation, pointing to fellow candidate Ray Chung.

“The council needs a maturity that has not been demonstrated in the last few years”, Bishop said, adding that he believes Little wouldn’t get distracted by other issues not in the interest of the city.

“I don’t mean to be mean about Tory [Whanau] but every time she came on your show we ended up with debates about everything other than the debates about issues facing Wellington and that’s not good for the city,” Bishop told Mills.

Tory Whanau made headlines after revealing to Nick Mills that she sold her car to help pay her mortgage.

She later backtracked on that claim. Earlier this year she cancelled her monthly slot on Newstalk ZB.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau cancelled her monthly slot on Newstalk ZB’s Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

Andrew Little said when he announced his mayoral bid that he had been approached by “quite a cross-section” of Wellingtonians asking him to run.

“Obviously Labour people but also National Party, Green Party people, community leaders, business people.”

The National Party does not run or officially endorse candidates for local body elections.

The local election will be held on October 11.

Candidate nominations open on Friday, July 4 and close on August 1.

Ethan Manera is a multimedia journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 and is interested in local issues, politics and property in the capital. Ethan is always on the lookout for a story and can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.