Election 2025: Macindoe wins the Hamilton mayoralty race

Saturday, 11 October 2025

Tim Macindoe awaited results with supporters on Saturday.

Former Hamilton West MP and current Hamilton city councillor Tim Macindoe has been elected the city’s newest mayor.

And it will be a new-look Hamilton City Council he will be leading, with a number of fresh - but in some cases very familiar - faces seated around the debating chamber.

There have also been some unexpected departures, in the form of sitting councillors Maxine van Oosten and Louise Hutt.

But the list of who’s in and who’s out is far from finalised. Hamiltonians turned out in droves to vote on Saturday, with more than 5500 ordinary votes cast on the day - and these are yet to be counted.

The Waikato Times was on the scene when Macindoe got a phone call from council chief executive Lance Vervoort at 3.37pm on Saturday, informing him he had been victorious.

Macindoe had just been addressing a gathering of his supporters at the Hamilton Contract Bridge Club premises in Whitiora when the call came in. After stepping outside to be briefed on the preliminary result from Vervoort, he went back in where the crowd were expectantly waiting some sort of news.

Tim Macindoe celebrates with his wife Anne and supporters at the Hamilton Contract Bridge Club on Saturday afternoon.

After telling those present they needed to keep what he was about to reveal to themselves, he then gestured to his wife Anne - “Anyway, can I introduce you to the new mayoress of Hamilton”.

After the burst of applause had died down, Macindoe repeated there was a need for secrecy, as the other mayoral candidates had not been contacted yet.

Tim Macindoe and re-elected city councillor Geoff Taylor have a quiet word soon after receiving news of their respective victories.

“Given the demographic here, I’m confident most will not be in a rush,” he quipped.

Macindoe told the Waikato Times it had been a tense afternoon waiting for the results.

He had now stood in 11 elections - “And maybe this will be the last one. Time will tell.”

Tama Potaka, the current Hamilton West MP, congratulates Tim Macindoe - who was one of his predecessors in the seat.

Every election campaign was different, he said.

“The defeat I suffered in 2020 was pretty shattering, even though I knew it was coming. This one? This one feels pretty good.”

Moments before Macindoe’s phone call, councillor Geoff Taylor, who was also at the Bridge Club, got his own phone call from Vervoort telling him he would be back.

Tim Macindoe gets the low-down from Hamilton City Council chief executive Lance Vervoort - who called soon after the Waikato Times arrived on the scene.

Although the voting figures were not immediately available, Sarah Thomson came second in the mayoral race.

Maria Huata placed third, while Rachel Karalus was fourth.

Thomson said she was content with how she ran her campaign.

“I always knew it would be a tough race, with Tim having such strong name recognition … I have sent him a message of congratulations, and I’ll give him a call soon.

“I’m really grateful and humbled by the support I did receive, and I’m going to be ready to hit the ground running once council resumes.”

Meanwhile, Hamiltonians have also narrowly voted to keep the Kirikiriroa Māori ward, by 13,600 votes to 13,010.

Huata was one of two successful candidates in that ward, with Robbie Neha the other.

Macindoe also topped the voting list in the east ward. Because he will become mayor, the six successful candidates in the queue behind him will become councillors for the east ward.

They are Rachel Karalus, Andrew Bydder, Anna Casey-Cox, Leo Liu, Jamie Strange and Sue Moroney.

Thomson was the top-ranked councillor in the west ward, followed by Geoff Taylor, Graeme Mead, Angela O’Leary, Mesh MacDonald, and Emma Pike.