A blue sea of change is in sight for Auckland with even stronghold Labour seats like Mt Roskill and New Lynn appearing to go blue.
However, National has lost Tāmaki for the first time since 1957.
Auckland’s Tāmaki electorate was described as this year’s most exciting race. Tāmaki has been held by socially conservative Simon O’Connor since 2011, who is No 54 on National’s list.
Act deputy leader Brooke Van Velden claimed victory in Tāmaki, the party grabbing a second electorate in the Auckland region alongside leader David Seymour’s Epsom seat.
Swarbrick is leading with 10,605 votes with 92 per cent of the votes counted. Her closest rival is National’s Mahesh Muralidhar, who has 8651 votes and is number 43 on National’s list.
National’s Melissa Lee and Labour Party’s Helen White are neck and neck in Mt Albert. Former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern held the seat.
With 94 per cent of the votes counted, White has a slim lead of 89 votes. Ardern won the seat in 2020 with a 20,000-vote majority.
In Mt Roskill, the incumbent MP Michael Wood, who was fired from the Cabinet for not selling his shares in Auckland Airport, looks set to be dumped from Parliament altogether. With 92 per cent of the votes counted, National’s Carlos Cheung holds a 1517-vote margin over the once high-flying Labour minister.
In New Lynn, another Labour stronghold, incumbent Deborah Russell was losing by more than 750 votes to National’s Paulo Garcia with 94.7 per cent of the vote counted.
In Te Atatū, Labour MP Phil Twyford was behind by 80 votes to National’s Angee Nicholas with 97.7 per cent of the vote counted.
A bright spot for Labour in the Super City is Deputy PM Carmel Sepuloni retaining her Kelston seat with 91 per cent of the vote counted and a comfortable buffer of 3300 votes over National’s Ruby Schaumkel.
Over the bridge in Northcote, National’s Dan Bidois smashed incumbent Labour MP Shanan Halbert with a massive 7339 margin after 95.9 per cent of the vote had been counted.
National holds a huge majority in Upper Harbour with Cameron Brewer holding 16,252 votes and Labour’s Vanushi Walters with 7605, that’s with 96 per cent of the votes counted.
In Maungakiekie, another Labour-held Auckland seat, National’s Greg Fleming has opened up a more than 3567-vote lead over Labour incumbent Priyanca Radhakrishnan with most of the votes counted.
Senior Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta has also conceded defeat in the Hauraki-Waikato seat to 21-year-old Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of Te Pāti Māori.
Labour has comfortably held onto its Manurewa seat with the incumbent Arena Williams sitting on a 5000-plus vote majority over National’s Siva Kilari.
It’s the same story in Māngere where Labour’s Lemauga Sosene has a nearly 8000-vote lead over National’s Rosemary Bourke with 90 per cent of the votes counted.