Grant Robertson at the Wharewaka in Wellington, where the region's Labour candidates are holding their election event tonight. Photo / Katie Harris
Grant Robertson at the Wharewaka in Wellington, where the region's Labour candidates are holding their election event tonight. Photo / Katie Harris
ANALYSIS:
Wellington has a lot of safe red seats, but there are still a couple of exciting electorates to watch this year - Hutt South and Ōhāriu. Click on the subheadings to take you through to full profiles of each electorate and results as they come through. Listen on iHeart Radio for Newstalk ZB's Spotlight on Wellington election coverage.
The battle between Labour's Ginny Andersen and National's Chris Bishop in Hutt South is shaping up to be a real nail-biter. At 10.30pm, Andersen had surged ahead, with a margin over Bishop of 1034.
Bishop is having his election night event at the Victoria Tavern in Petone, where there are blue and white balloons strung about the place. Supporters at the venue are not disheartened that Bishop is behind. In 2017 he trailed Andersen right until the very end and they're hoping the same thing will happen this time around.
Bishop earlier told the NZ Herald he was "pretty nervous".
"I've put my heart and soul into this campaign. Just got to see whether that's enough. These things do tend to bounce around in the Hutt - last time around it went back and forth right up until about 10.30 from memory - hopefully that will happen again, we'll just have to wait and see."
Labour's Andersen said she's overwhelmed with how well the party has done across the country. She said there was no way of knowing which way the electorate was going to swing at this point in the night, but it was always going to be a close race.
"We've both fought an incredibly tough fight out here and that's represented in the numbers we see tonight."
Bishop is trying to keep the seat of Hutt South blue after he snatched it from Labour in 2017 by a margin of 1530 votes. Andersen lost to Bishop last time after Trevor Mallard ran list only.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the campaign trail in Hutt South meeting local business owners with local candidate Ginny Andersen for Election 2020. Photo / Derek Cheng
Labour's Chris Hipkins looks set for another term as Remutaka's MP. With 47.9 per cent of the votes counted, he's on 18,450, compared to National's candidate Mark Crofskey who is on 5413.
Hipkins has been the local MP in Remutaka for the past 12 years - the seat has been a Labour stronghold since it was created. Crofskey doesn't live in the electorate, but says he has been working hard in Remutaka every day since he was selected to run there. He says people have a choice between someone who works in the electorate and someone like Hipkins, who works in town. Last time we checked the New Zealand Parliament Buildings were located at 1 Museum St, Pipitea, Wellington City.
Incumbent MP for Remutaka Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Labour's Ōhāriu candidate Greg O'Connor is starting to relax into election night, sitting on 15,771 votes ahead of National's Brett Hudson, who is on 7335. Almost 46 per cent of the votes have been counted.
O'Connor says he's on to his first beer and he's happy the team's work has been reflected in the result.
Three MPs are contesting the Ōhāriu seat, but only one will return to Parliament. Incumbent O'Connor is running electorate-only for Labour, a move to shore up votes. He won by a margin of just 1051 last election after United Future leader Peter Dunne hung up the boots. But National's Hudson says he's in essentially the same situation, because he won't get into Parliament as a list MP based on how his party is currently polling. New Zealand First's Tracey Martin is also vying for the seat. It's unlikely she'll get back into Parliament without winning the seat either, with her party languishing in the polls.
O'Connor told the Herald early on election night that reaching this moment feels like getting on a plane to Europe, where the pilot is in control and the only thing he can do is sit back.
"I'm optimistic rather than confident, I mean, you work hard, you come to this moment and you have no control.
"People are saying 'boy, don't you wish you'd taken a safe list seat now?' and I say 'no I don't I actually, I really don't'. I'm an all-or-nothing sort of guy."
National's Ōhāriu candidate and list MP Brett Hudson. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Labour's new candidate in Mana, Barbara Edmonds, is cleaning up in the electorate. She has 13,271 votes with 45.2 per cent of the votes counted. National's Jo Hayes is well behind on 4627.
Edmonds is running for Labour in Mana after incumbent MP Kris Faafoi made the call to run list-only. He secured a 10,980 majority over National's candidate in 2017. In fact, the seat has never been held by any other party. This time National is running Jo Hayes, who seems to be parachuted in where she's needed when it comes to election time. Hayes says a journalist once told her people might say she's a carpetbagger. She replied: "We're all carpetbaggers, mate."
Labour Party president Claire Szabo with new candidates, from left, Barbara Edmonds, Dr Ayesha Verrall and Ibrahim Omer. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Grant Robertson is set to romp home in Wellington Central.
With 24.4 per cent of the total votes counted, he's on 15,627 votes. That's ahead of National's Nicola Willis, who is sitting on 4797 votes.
Robertson has been the Wellington Central MP for 12 years now and spent the last term in Government as Finance Minister. The seat has predominantly been held by Labour MPs with one notable exception being Richard Prebble, who won the seat for Act in 1996. This time Act's deputy leader Brooke van Velden is campaigning in the electorate. She'll easily make it in as a list MP based on her party's polling. Greens co-leader James Shaw also calls Wellington home and is campaigning in the electorate to bolster the party vote. National's Nicola Willis has been catapulted up her party's list rankings this year. She knows she's an underdog but has proven an effective advocate on local issues these past three years.
Asked how his night had been from Labour's Wellington event at Wharewaka at about 7.30pm, Robertson said he cut himself shaving.
"But overall I've had a good day. It's been quite a nice quiet day, which has been unusual lately."
Grant Robertson at the Wharewaka in Wellington, where the region's Labour candidates are holding their election event tonight. Photo / Katie Harris
National's Wellington Central candidate and list MP Nicola Willis. Photo / Georgina Campbell
Labour's Paul Eagle is ecstatic but taking nothing for granted as his electorate votes remain strong.
The incumbent is cautiously optimistic he'll take out Rongotai, as his closest competitor remains 7000 votes behind at 9.45pm.
Eagle is awaiting the outcome at Labour's Wellington HQ on the waterfront.
He says one thing he learnt from his predecessor is to make sure you've got the win in the bag.
The electorate is considered a safe seat for Labour. It has only changed hands once when Annette King retired and Eagle went on to win it again for the party in 2017.
The Opportunities Party leader Geoff Simmons has also thrown his hat in the ring, adding some fire to the race. David Patterson has been selected to sing from National's second Mt Victoria tunnel song sheet.
Ironically, none of the key players in the second tunnel secret letter saga are actually contesting the seat, despite the fact Julie Anne Genter lives in the electorate and is instead running list-only for the Greens.
