Tory Whanau quits Wellington mayoral race

Tuesday, 29 April 2025

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Tory Whanau has pulled out of the mayoral race, saying the entrance of Labour-endorsed Andrew Little has “changed the game”.

Instead the one-term, first wahine Māori mayor will run for the Māori ward for Wellington City Council. Nīkau Wi Neera is not seeking re-election.

“When I had put my name forward to run for mayor again, I was worried there were no viable candidates,” Whanau said in a statement to The Post, just hours after turning the sod on the launch of the city’s Golden Mile upgrades which she had championed.

“Now Andrew Little has declared he is running, that has changed the game,” said Whanau, conceding Little had the support, skills and experience to “unite council”.

Whanau respected Little’s leadership and didn’t want the distraction of a “Green vs Labour narrative”. With a viable contender, “I can now focus on what is important to me.”

Little, a former Labour leader and cabinet minister, formally received the backing of the Wellington Labour Party on Monday night to be the party’s official mayoral candidate. That gives his campaign valuable access to resources, funds and data.

Little said he was honoured. “I am clear in my Labour values and also in my ability to work across political lines and bring people together. If elected, I intend to be a Mayor for all of Wellington.'

Reacting to Whanau’s announcement, Little acknowledged her service to the city.

“Tory took on the mayoralty during a tough time for Wellington and regardless of our differences in approach I want to recognise her hard work and her dedication to the city.

“I also want to say that while criticism of public leaders is healthy and necessary in a democracy, at times during Tory’s mayoralty this has crossed a line into personal abuse, particularly in online spaces. It is to her credit that she got on with the job in spite of it. This sort of abuse discourages good people from standing for public office and it needs to stop.

“My focus remains on campaigning to win a mandate for change at the local elections in October. As I speak with people across our city, it’s clear that Wellington faces significant challenges that require urgent attention. From infrastructure issues to housing affordability and unaffordable rates increases, there’s a growing consensus that we need a new direction.

Whanau’s U-turn comes just weeks after confirming a re-election bid.

Green Party-backed Whanau, the party’s former chief of staff, won the chains in 2022 having campaigned on a progressive agenda including revitalising the CBD, improving the city’s housing stock and transport links, and a widespread cycleway roll-out.

That, plus a promise to fix the city’s broken pipes, saw her edge out fellow contenders Andy Foster, Ray Chung and Paul Eagle by a landslide, following an election campaign described at the time as “masterful” despite Whanau having no local government experience.

Instead, her term instead may well be remembered for council dysfunction and infighting that saw then Local Government Minister Simeon Brown install a Crown observer in Wellington City Council in October.

The latter followed a council U-turn on selling its stake in Wellington Airport, prompting a late rewrite of its 10-year budget.

At the time, Whanau denied the installation of an observer was an indictment on her leadership.

“It has been admittedly a tough couple of years, and I certainly won't deny that, but I think as a collective, we could have done a lot better,” she said then.

Whanau also oversaw the controversial but ultimately failed Reading Cinema deal which fell apart when councillors who initially backed Whanau’s plan lost faith.

And less than a year into her mayoralty, Whanau faced intense scrutiny for leaving a restaurant without paying, prompting her to admit she had a problem with alcohol.

She later told The Post she’d struggled to let her “private life go”.

Beyond that, Whanau suffered from other minor controversies: she was criticised for missing meetings, and was panned as tone deaf for comments she, a Lotto winner, had made about selling her car to help pay bills.

In a statement, Whanau described her term as being shaped by “bold decisions” and cited council’s investment in water infrastructure, its commitments to improved housing, the installation of 27km of new cycleways and climate change initiatives as her achievements.

“Change isn’t easy and will always have its critics,” she said. “But I have stayed true to the vision I was elected to deliver and have always been upfront about the challenges we face.”

Whanau said she would be making a push for the election of Green candidates to council to further a progressive agenda.

“I want to continue making Pōneke a city that embraces Te Tiriti, work closely with mana whenua and deliver on affordable housing, nature and water.”

It is unclear if the Greens will run another candidate in Whanau’s place.

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