New Zealand First list MP and Cabinet Minister Ron Mark will again seek the Wairarapa seat in this year's election.
The electorate race is wide open after the sitting National MP Alastair Scott announced he would not run for re-election. His National Party replacement is farmer Mike Butterick, who will try to hold off Labour's one-term list MP Kieran McAnulty.
In the last election, Mark was one of the highest-polling NZ First candidates with almost 20 percent of the electorate vote. That was almost twice as much as the party vote for NZ First in the electorate, suggesting a lot of popular support for the one-time "ward of the state".
