Ben Sandford said he was disappointed with the loss and special votes wouldn't have changed much.
"It would've been nice if the gap closed a little but it wouldn't have been enough.
"There is always going to be a winner and a loser and that's just how the game goes," Sandford said.
He said it didn't impact his plan to stand again in three years.
"Me and my team are going to look at the results and see what can be done better for next time, but first I'll have to go through the process to become the candidate again."
He also thought the coming days would be fascinating as negotiations to form a Government came to a close.
"I think with the Labour-Green-bloc gaining two more seats shows that there is an appetite for change across the country," he said.
New Waiariki MP, Labour's Tamati Coffey, said a lot lay on the next few days.
"We're happy with the result and we're ready to roll with it, but first we have to figure out our position in Government and that depends on the negotiations.
"Until then, we're still in limbo like most of the country," Coffey said.
The final results for Waiariki have Coffey at 12,362 and Maori Party's Te Ururoa Flavell at 10,643.
Coffey said he felt great about winning the seat, especially now that special votes had been counted.
"I was told that there was enough of a margin that I would remain on top, but I wasn't going to feel content until the results were final."
Flavell, who was the Waiariki MP for the past three terms, said there wasn't much hope that the special votes would make a difference.
"The election night results painted a picture and I didn't think much would change," he said.
Flavell said he had come to terms with the results and was happy with the support he had received.
"It was a hard adjustment but I feel fine now. There has been a lot of positive feedback and I'm just looking at moving forward from this."
He also said it was too hard to predict who the next Government would be.
"I have no idea, you can never tell which way Mr Peters will go.
"The biggest disappointment is that the Maori Party is not in that position but the country made a choice and you've got to live with it," Flavell said.
The new coalition Government is expected to be decided later this week.
Candidate - election night result - final result after special votes
Rotorua
Todd McClay (National): 16,544 - 18,788
Ben Sanford (Labour): 9114 - 10,887
Fletcher Tabuteau (NZ First): 2685 - 3062
Richard Gillies (Green): 1139 - 1491
Wendy Biddle (Maori Party): 548 - 702
Waiariki:
Tamati Coffey (Labour): 9847 - 12,362
Te Ururoa Flavell (Maori Party): 8526 - 10,643
