Nanaia Mahuta won’t stand on Labour list, goes all in on Hauraki Waikato seat

The voters in Hauraki-Waikato will determine Nanaia Mahuta’s future in politics, with the Labour minister opting not to stand on the party list.

Her decision removes the fallback option of being able to stay in Parliament as a Labour list MP, in the event that the Hauraki-Waikato voters decide to elect another candidate.

Te Pāti Māori still hasn’t announced a candidate for Hauraki-Waikato.

Mahuta’s decision to take herself off the list will add pressure on Te Pāti Māori in this electorate. Voters won’t have the chance to vote for a Te Pāti Māori candidate and give their party vote to Labour, in the hopes of Mahuta being returned to Parliament as a list MP.

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Mahuta would stand for Labour as an electorate candidate only, recontesting the seat which she has held since its inception. She has been in Parliament since 1996 and spent her first term as a list MP. Since 1999, Mahuta has stood and won in various Māori electorates.

She said this would be the third election she had gone into without a list ranking.

Following the Foreshore and Seabed split, that led to the creation of Te Pāti Māori, Mahuta stood for Labour in the Tainui seat without a list placing. She did so again at the 2017 election, after the Kīngitanga publicly endorsed Te Pāti Māori for the second election running.

She kept her seat during her all-in bets in 2005 and 2017, which she said were to show the significance of “challenges” ahead.

“There’s a lot at stake. And I’m prepared to go to the electorate and seek their support,” Mahuta said on Tuesday when she confirmed she would be an electorate-only candidate.

She said it was her request to be taken off Labour’s list, and wasn’t aware if any other Māori candidates would do the same.

“I’m putting my mandate in front of the electorate. It’s their choice, but there is a lot at risk. And that in Hauraki-Waikato if we want to continue with the progressive gains that we’ve made, support Labour,” she said.

At the last election, Donna Pokere-Phillips​stood for Te Pāti Māori in Hauraki-Waikato. In the years since, she appears to have switched allegiances to the Outdoors and Freedoms Party. Her political commentary now centres around Covid-19 conspiracy theories.