Six months after being elected unopposed as a Whakatāne district councillor, Toni Boynton is running for a central government seat.
Boynton is the Waiariki candidate for the Labour Party, it was announced by the party’s Māori caucus at the Tūhoe Te Hui Ahurei in Waimana over the weekend.
The seat is held by Māori Party candidate Rawiri Waititi, who beat Labour’s Tāmati Coffey in the 2020 election. Coffey is now a list MP, but has announced his retirement from politics at this year’s election.
Boynton, who has connections to Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Tamakaimoana, Te Arawa, Ngāti Kahu and Te Rarawa, was elected as the Kapu te Rangi Māori Ward councillor for Whakatāne in October after campaigning for several years in favour of Māori seats both locally and nationally.