The race is on for the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election.
It has been sparked by the death of Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Moana Tarsh Kemp, after battling kidney disease.
The Māori electorate encompasses central and southern Auckland areas, stretching from the Waitākere Ranges to Bucklands Beach and Waiheke Island.
National, Act, New Zealand First and the Greens have all opted out of running candidates.
Labour’s Peeni Henare will fight for his old seat against Te Pāti Māori’s choice of former broadcaster Oriini Kaipara.
Vision NZ leader Hannah Tamaki, NZ Loyal’s Kelvyn Alp and independent Sherry Lee Matene have also put their names into the ring.
Voting begins today for overseas voters, advance voting opens on August 25, and election day is set for September 6.
Victoria University of Wellington associate professor Lara Greaves told The Front Page we shouldn’t read too much into the results of this by-election.
“It’s a fairly straightforward by-election ... turnout will probably be quite low.
“There are a few other minor candidates and independents running around the edges just trying to get a bit of a voice for their platform and show up to the debates and get some attention.
“But, we are really looking at a Labour versus Te Pāti Māori matchup,” she said.
Greaves said the electorate is one of the youngest in the country, with a median age of “somewhere in the 20s”.
“The thing that Labour now has to balance is, do you keep the old guard, the people who held ministerial positions in the Ardern Government, the baggage that might be associated with that has to be balanced with the experience they have.
“For Labour, it is interesting because it does seem like they haven’t had that many retirements. It does seem like the party will contest the next election with a lot of that lineup of the ministers from the Ardern years that are still there,” she said.
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Labour’s Peeni Henare held the Tāmaki Makaurau seat between 2014 and 2023 when he lost it to Kemp by a slender 42-vote margin.
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said: “Henare is exactly the leader Tāmaki Makaurau needs, with a deep understanding of the issues that matter.”
Henare said communities had been saying “loud and clear” they want “jobs, access to quality and affordable health services, affordable housing, and relief from the rising cost of living must be a top priority”.
Henare has noted Labour’s Georgie Dansey, a wāhine Māori, would enter Parliament if he won the byelection.
Posted by Oriini Kaipara mō Tāmaki Makaurau on Thursday, July 17, 2025
Te Pāti Māori has selected journalist and former TV3 broadcaster Oriini Kaipara to contest the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection.
The party confirmed its selection on social media, calling Kaipara (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangitihi) a “longtime West Auckland advocate”.
Kaipara said she had grown tired of “sitting on the sidelines” and “having to bite my tongue when I see a huge hīkoi walking past me and I cannot actively voice my truth”.
Vision NZ leader Hannah Tamaki announced early on that she would again run for the seat.
The wife of Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki received 829 votes in the 2023 election.
She believed her record helping in South Auckland communities was “unquestionable”, but acknowledged her “faith” or her association with Destiny Church’s Man Up programme could unsettle voters.
Members of the programme were linked to the storming of a pride event at a West Auckland library earlier this year. Protesters wearing Man Up T-shirts were also associated with temporarily blocking this year’s Wellington Pride Parade.
Counterspin Media founder Kelvyn Alp has also put his name into contention. He was prominent during the 2022 Parliament protests.
Twenty years ago, he was the public face of the so-called New Zealand Armed Intervention Force, which came under security service attention after it talked about overthrowing the government.
Finally, Sherry Lee Matene is running as an independent. There is no publicly available information about her.
Wednesday, August 20: Overseas voting begins.
Monday, August 25: Advance voting begins.
Thursday, August 28: Cutoff for NZ Post to receive election-related mail for delivery.
Friday, September 5: Advance voting ends.
All political advertising must end, and election signs must be taken down by midnight.
Saturday, September 6: Election day for the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election.
Voting places open from 9am to 7pm.
Election night - preliminary results released progressively from 7pm.
Wednesday, September 17: Official results declared
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.