The clock is ticking in the great chain chase.
2025 is an election year in New Zealand. Not the general variation, obviously, but the local form. If you’re thinking of running, nominations open in just five months, and your chances are good – about 50% across the various races; in 2022 almost 250 candidates were elected unopposed.
For now, most of the activity is focused on the mayoral contests, so to whet your appetite, here’s the state of play in the bigger centres: who has announced either way so far, with about 30 weeks until voting opens.
Auckland
Every blockbuster* needs a good teaser promo, and that was delivered this week in the form of an afternoon comedy that began with the New Zealand Herald headline, “Wayne Brown wants deputy mayor Desley Simpson to step down after she eyes his job”, and ended a couple of hours later when the very same Herald report on the very same URL was updated with a new headline, “Wayne Brown quashes reports he expects Desley Simpson to step down”.
That burst of finger-pointing Spider-Men followed revelations that Simpson’s son had recently registered the domain Desleyformayor.co.nz. He’d done so as “a bit of a laugh”, said Simpson – but she wouldn’t rule out a run for the top Supercity job.
So where does that leave us? Wayne Brown is almost certain to announce any day now that he will stand for re-election, probably on a platform as the fixer getting the fixing finished. Desley Simpson is a maybe.
There are whispers circulating that the Greens and Labour have been casting around for a candidate, with one prominent TV personality mentioned. Or former minister and union man Michael Wood? “Absolutely not,” he told the Spinoff. “It’s more likely that Shane Jones wins a rainbow alliance award for services to humility and inter-cultural relations.” Roger that. How about councillor Richard Hills? No response by time of publication.
Whau councillor Kerrin Leoni is in. “I’m standing because members of my iwi Ngāti Paoa and people across Auckland have asked me to stand,” she wrote on social media last weekend. “Aucklanders I’ve spoken to want change, a younger woman as mayor who will bring fresh ideas to Auckland Council and our Super City.”
And returning for another bash is Ted Johnston. “It is time for competence and good policies to be the decider,” said the former Conservative leader, lawyer and eggee.
Paula Bennett has ruled out any run in 2025 and so has Leo Molloy, who withdrew from the contest mid-campaign last time.
What about former National leader and Auckland Business Chamber Simon Bridges? He was the most popular possibility put to respondents in a Curia poll for the Ratepayers Alliance in March last year (followed by Brown, Bennett and Simpson). Asked by the Spinoff if he had officially ruled out a mayoral run in 2025, Bridges said: “YES!”
He added: “After taking all summer to deliberate and gaze at his navel Bridges remembered to ask his wife what to think. Let’s just say she wasn’t that keen.”
* Admittedly “blockbuster” is an ambitious description of an event that attracted 35.4% turnout last time round
Hamilton
The city of the future will have a new mayor, after Paula Southgate announced she wouldn’t seek a third term. She told the Waikato Times in the first days of 2025 that she was airing her decision early to “make space for younger emerging leaders to potentially come to the table and [to] let the community know I’m not running so that they can reach out to their groups and see who’s out there”.
In a follow-up for the Times, Stephen Ward asked sitting councillors whether they were keen to fill that vacancy. Ewan Wilson – a former candidate and keen travel vlogger – is considering a run. As are two other centre-right councillors: Geoff Taylor, a runner-up in 2022 and former Mills & Boon novelist, is one; the other is former National MP Tim Macindoe.
Maxine van Oosten was meanwhile unlikely but “happy to consider” the possibility. Louise Hutt, who stood for the mayoralty in 2019 on a progressive platform, was also mulling the idea. Sarah Thomson told the paper it was “not on the cards at this stage” but neither was it out of the question.
Former Hamilton mayoral candidate and current deputy mayor Angela O’Leary is another possible runner. [Update, Feb 10: O’Leary has responded to say that she is not consisdering a run for the mayoralty this year.]
Tauranga
Tauranga mayor Mahé Drysdale will not face any challengers this year, and that is because there won’t be an election. Having been run by government-appointed commissioners for four years until elections last year, Tauranga City Council’s next election will be in 2028. (Bay of Plenty Regional Council will have elections as normal.)
Lower Hutt
Two-term Labour mayor Campbell Barry told RNZ this week that he was still doing the pros and cons list on whether to stand for a third mayoral term in October’s election. His closest challenger last time around was Tony Stallinger, who had previously been the council’s CEO. Will he stand again? “I’ve no intention to run for the mayoralty this year,” Stallinger told us. “I’ve yet to decide whether to seek re-election as a councillor.”
Wellington
The term to date has been – to put it mildly – bumpy for Mayor Tory Whanau. But she’s consistently said she is committed to running for re-election as part of what she calls a two-term project. Whanau, who won in a landslide in 2022 but is likely to face sterner challenges this year, told RNZ she would focus her campaign on water, transport, climate change initiatives and housing.
The second- and third-placed candidates from 2022, Andy Foster and Paul Eagle, are out of the picture, focused now respectively on roles as NZ First list MP and CEO of the Chatham Islands Council. But the fourth, councillor Ray Chung, is in. He announced it in May last year in an attempt to secure the status as the leading challenger from the centre-right.
What about Justin Lester? He has insisted that recent initiatives are no stealth campaign ahead of a bid to win back the office he lost by 62 votes to Foster in 2019, but he’s also saying, “never say never”.
In a survey of possible contenders for the Post, Tom Hunt reports that conservationist Kelvin Hadie is running again, councillor John Apanowicz is a maybe, “ice cream guy” Karl Tiefenbacher is “definitely considering” and tech guy Luke Pierson appears to be giving it serious consideration. Graham Bloxham, former operator of Wellington Live and branch enthusiast, is another who has announced he is standing. No word yet from seasoned candidate and Sudoku philosopher Donald McDonald.
Christchurch
The sitting mayor, Phil Mauger, confirmed a fortnight ago that he will run again, but only after “his website, which was under development, inadvertently confirmed on Monday morning his bid to retain the top job”, according to the Press. His stated priorities include affordable rates, council stability, essential services and infrastructure projects.
In 2022 Mauger edged out rival independent David Meates by a couple of percentage points but there is no indication yet from Meates that he’ll go again. Back in October, Sara Templeton announced she’d be running. The three-term councillor is a former Green Party member who will stand as an independent.
No word yet on veteran mayoral candidates The Wizard or Tubby Hansen.
Dunedin
Jules Radich, who unseated Green mayor Aaron Hawkins in 2022, is back for more, telling the Otago Daily Times, “There are many things that I still want to do.”
He’ll face a challenge from motor dealer Andrew Simms who is leading a Future Dunedin ticket concerned about the current council’s “lack of vision and lack of direction and lack of leadership”. Hawkins told the ODT he had “three jobs and I’m not looking for another one right now”.
No word, meanwhile, on whether Slime the Nitrate Monster has any ongoing ambitions in local government.
Key dates
Candidate nominations open on July 4 and close on August 1. Candidates will be announced a week later and voting papers sent out by the independent companies that run the elections by September 9. Voting closes at noon on October 11.