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2025 Hamilton City Council election

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2025 Hamilton City Council election
← 2022 11 October 2025 2028 →
TurnoutTBD
Mayor before election

Paula Southgate
Independent

Elected mayor

TBD

Council election
All 14 ward seats on the Hamilton City Council
Incumbents before election
Affiliation Seats Change
  Independents 11
  Team Integrity 1
  vacant 1
First preference vote share of winning councillors by ward

The 2025 Hamilton City Council election is an upcoming local election to be held from 9 September to 11 October in Hamilton, New Zealand as part of that year's nation-wide local elections. Voters will elect the mayor of Hamilton and 14 city councillors for the 2025–2028 term of the Hamilton City Council. Postal voting and the single transferable vote system will be used.

The council introduced a Māori ward at the 2022 election; its future will be decided in a referendum on the issue, as part of a nation-wide series of referendums.

A finalised list of candidate names was released by the City Council on 4 August identifying 52 candidates, including 12 candidates for mayor.[1][2]

Key dates

[edit]
  • 4 July 2025: Nominations for candidates will open
  • 1 August 2025: Nominations for candidates will close at 12 pm
  • 9 September 2025: Voting documents will be posted and voting will open
  • 11 October 2025: Voting will close at 12 pm and progress/preliminary results will be published
  • 16–19 October 2025: Final results will be declared.[3][4]

Background

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Positions up for election

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Voters in the city will elect the mayor of Hamilton and 13 councillors from 3 wards. They will also elect several members of the Waikato Regional Council.[a][5]

Campaign

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List of candidates

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Incumbents not seeking re-election

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  • Paula Southgate, mayor since 2019[6]
  • Moko Tauariki, councillor for the Kirikiriroa Maaori ward since 2022[7]
  • Ewan Wilson, councillor in the West ward since 2019[8]
  • Kesh Naidoo-Rauf, councillor in the East ward since 2019[9]

Mayor

[edit]
Main article: 2025 Hamilton mayoral election § List of candidates

Incumbent mayor Paula Southgate is not running for re-election. Incumbent councillor and former National MP Tim Macindoe is contesting the election, as well as incumbent councillors Sarah Thomson and Maria Huata. Rachel Karalus is also running.

Councillors

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Kirikiriroa Maaori ward

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The Kirikiriroa Maaori ward will return two councillors to the city council.[10]

Candidate[1][11] Affiliation[b] Notes
Jarrad Gallagher
Maria Huata Incumbent councillor since 2024 by-election.[7][13][14] Also running for mayor.
Lawrence Jensen Independent
Robbie Neha Independent
Andrew Lewis Pope
Jahvaya Watene Wheki Independent

West ward

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The West ward will return six councillors to the city council.[10]

Candidate[1][11] Affiliation[b] Notes
Paul Alforque
Matthew Beveridge Independent
Mark Flyger
Nidhita Gosai ACT Local Process safety engineer[15]
Louise Hutt Incumbent councillor[14][16]
Mesh Macdonald
Allan James McKie
Graeme Mead Independent
Angela O'Leary Independent Incumbent councillor and deputy mayor[14]
Emma Pike Independent Incumbent councillor[14]
Dave Taylor Also running for mayor
Geoff Taylor Incumbent councillor[14]
Sarah Thomson Independent Incumbent councillor,[14] also standing as a mayoral candidate
Mike West
Roderick John Young

East ward

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The East ward will return six councillors to the city council.[10]

Candidate[1][11] Affiliation[b] Notes
Rachel Afeaki Independent
Stuart David Aitken
Andrew Bydder Incumbent councillor[14] and architectural designer[17][18]
Anna Casey-Cox Incumbent councillor[14]
Preet Dhaliwal ACT Local Hospitality business owner[15]
Rudi du Plooy Previously stood as a joint New Conservatives & NewZeal (formerly known as ONE Party) candidate in the 2022 Election for the Hamilton West electorate. Also running for mayor.
Jack Gielen The Peoples Voice Former deputy leader for The Republic of New Zealand Party. Also running for mayor.
Marie Hamilton Independent Ryan Hamilton, MP for Hamilton East representing the National Party is Marie's husband.
Louise Rachel Harvey New Zealand Constitution Party
Suhair Sabah Hassan New Zealand Constitution Party
Horiana Henderson
Peter Humphreys
Tim Hunt
Jason Jonassen Independent
Rachel Karalus Independent Also running for mayor.
Leo Liu
Tim Macindoe Independent Incumbent councillor,[14] also standing as a mayoral candidate.
Danielle Marks
Alexander Bruce McConnochie
John McDonald Also running for mayor
Sue Moroney Previously a Labour Party list MP, 2005-2017[19]
Jenny Nand Independent
Jono Ng Independent
Turi Robinson Independent
Jamie Strange Independent Previously a Labour List MP and then MP for Hamilton East, 2017-2023.[19]
Jackie Talbot Independent
Maxine van Oosten Incumbent councillor[14]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^
    • 4 members from the city in the Hamilton general constituency.
    • 1 member partially from the city representing the Ngā Hau e Whā Māori constituency.
  2. ^ a b c A candidate may leave their affiliation blank, run as an independent, or run with an affiliation to an organisation, local body ticket or political party.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "51 candidates stand for Hamilton City Council election". hamilton.govt.nz. Hamilton City Council. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  2. ^ Ward, Stephen. "Dollars and 'sense' set to play key part in Hamilton election". The Waikato Times. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
  3. ^ "Hamilton City Council local election 2025". hamilton.govt.nz. Hamilton City Council. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  4. ^ "Local authority elections are being held in October 2025". www.waikatoregion.govt.nz. Waikato Regional Council. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  5. ^ "Constituencies". www.waikatoregion.govt.nz. Waikato Regional Council. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  6. ^ Manhire, Toby (7 February 2025). "Who is in and who is out in the big mayoral races of 2025?". The Spinoff. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  7. ^ a b Ward, Stephen (26 June 2025). "Trailblazing Māori ward councillor won't re-stand in 2025 elections". Waikato Times. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
  8. ^ Ward, Stephen (11 July 2025). "'Once in a lifetime' role too good for city leader to pass up". Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  9. ^ A Message from Me to You With Gratitude, 3 July 2025, retrieved 1 August 2025
  10. ^ a b c "Stand | E Tuu". hamilton.govt.nz. Hamilton City Council. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  11. ^ a b c "NOTICE OF DAY OF ELECTION AND POLL FOR THE HAMILTON CITY COUNCIL" (PDF). storage.googleapis.com. Hamilton City Council. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  12. ^ "Candidate Information Handbook" (PDF). storage.googleapis.com. Hamilton City Council. p. 7. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  13. ^ Ward, Stephen; Morcom, Sarah (8 August 2024). "Maria Te Aukaha Huata wins vacant Hamilton Māori ward seat". Waikato Times. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Mayor and Councillors". hamilton.govt.nz. Hamilton City Council. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  15. ^ a b ACT New Zealand (25 June 2025). "ACT Announces Nidhita Gosai & Preet Dhaliwal As ACT Local Candidates For Hamilton City Council". www.scoop.co.nz. Scoop. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  16. ^ Hutt, Louise. "Re-elect Louise Hutt #1 Hamilton West". Vote Louise Hutt. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
  17. ^ "Better Hamilton". Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  18. ^ Ward, Stephen (10 June 2025). "Andrew Bydder and associates set to run for city council under 'Better Hamilton' banner". The Waikato Times. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Two former Labour MPs vie for seats on Hamilton City Council". RNZ. 3 August 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
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