Sam Uffindell announces Tauranga win

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell with his wife Julia, and daughter Lily. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford/SunLive.

With 54.4 per cent of the vote counted, Sam Uffindell has announced that Labour's Jan Tinetti has phoned him to concede the seat for Tauranga.

"I had a phone call from Jan," says Sam, making the announcement to National Party supporters gathered at 1 The Strand on Saturday night.

He went on to thank his volunteer team, friends and family for their help and support during his election campaign, in particular mentioning his campaign manager and all those who helped to "paint the town blue".

"I'm lucky here, we've got a fantastic bunch of members and volunteers. They make life really easy. They get up there and hand things out, they put up hoardings and fix them up. And I found that there's a fair bit of support out there as well," says Sam. "That was really nice to see."

SunLive asked Sam what are his three big things he wants to get done for Tauranga.

"Infrastructure is the first one. We have a big shortage of infrastructure. We've got State Highway 29 over the line recently. I'm going to keep working hard internally to make sure we get more focus on infrastructure development here in Tauranga.

"The second one would be around plan change 33. I know that there is a lot of community opposition to that. A lot of people don't want the changes that are being proposed and don't feel that they are being listened to. So I'm going to make sure I represent the people on that.

"The third one would be to make sure that we can make a transition to local democracy here in Tauranga as soon as possible. We'll be making sure we restore local democracy as soon as possible, some time next year."

He says the cost of living is the number one issue he's been hearing about from people across Tauranga.

"Law and order's another big issue. But I think in Tauranga the congestion was brought up consistently as a big challenge. We're a growing city, people keep wanting to move here because it's so good but we have to make sure we've got the investment in infrastructure that we need to enable us to develop."

With 25,377 votes counted in the Tauranga electorate, Sam has a current margin of 6,919 votes. He is leading with 12,597 votes. Labour Party candidate and List MP Jan Tinetti currently has 5,678 votes.

The National Party is leading in the Tauranga electorate with 49.32 per cent of the party vote. The Labour Party has 17.48 per cent.

ACT New Zealand candidate Christine Young is currently in third place with 2271 votes.

Candidates

Party

BALDOCK, Larry   598

 

CROOKS, Justin   1246

Green Party   1843

HARVEY, Erika   1997

New Zealand First Party   2271

LANGRIDGE, Jono   132

New Conservatives   55

SAMUELS, Leon   152

 

STOKMAN, Chelsea Jordan   114

Animal Justice Party   41

SYDNEY, Mikaere Taingahue   264   

Te Pāti Māori   197

TINETTI, Jan   5678

Labour Party   4436

UFFINDELL, Sam   12597

National Party   12513

YOUNG, Christine   2271

ACT New Zealand   2835

 

Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party   38

 

DemocracyNZ   34

 

Freedoms NZ   86

 

Leighton Baker Party   11

 

New Nation Party   25

 

New Zealand Loyal   186

 

NewZeal   254

 

The Opportunities Party (TOP)   430

 

Women’s Rights Party   18

Candidate Informals: 328

Party Informals:    94

TOTAL: 25,377

TOTAL: 25,367

 

Earlier, 8.50pm update:  National Party candidate and current Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell has a strong lead with the race for Tauranga.

With only 47.1 per cent of the votes counted, Sam is leading with 11,790 votes and Labour candidate Jan Tinetti has 5,218 votes, a current margin of 6,572.

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell with his wife Julia, daughter Lily and brother Harry. Sam has a strong lead over second-placed candidate Labour's Jan Tinetti. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford/SunLive.

National is also in the lead with party votes, securing 49.79 per cent of the votes, with Labour on 17.52 per cent.

NZ First candidate Erika Harvey is in fourth place with 1786 votes, behind ACT New Zealand candidate Christine Young who currently has 2054 votes.

NZ First candidate Erika Harvey at Trinity Wharf Hotel on Saturday night. Photo: Merle Cave/SunLive.

"This election is so different," says Erika. "The support has been amazing. We've had incredible volunteers, and I'm really excited and looking forward to the results.

She things NZ First is tracking well so far with election results.

"I think we're doing really really well."

Tauranga votes counted: 23,351 or 47.1 per cent:

Candidates

Party

BALDOCK, Larry   522

 

CROOKS, Justin   1110

Green Party   1643

HARVEY, Erika   1786

New Zealand First Party   2055

LANGRIDGE, Jono   118

New Conservatives   54

SAMUELS, Leon   136

 

STOKMAN, Chelsea Jordan   92

Animal Justice Party   36

SYDNEY, Mikaere Taingahue   222

Te Pāti Māori   174

TINETTI, Jan   5218

Labour Party   4091

UFFINDELL, Sam   11790

National Party   11623

YOUNG, Christine   2054

ACT New Zealand   2619

 

Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party   34

 

DemocracyNZ   25

 

Freedoms NZ   80

 

Leighton Baker Party   9

 

New Nation Party   24

 

New Zealand Loyal  157

 

NewZeal   227

 

The Opportunities Party (TOP)   383

 

Women’s Rights Party   16

Candidate Informals: 303

Party Informals:    90

TOTAL: 23,351

TOTAL: 23,340

Tauranga National Party supporters at 1 The Strand on election night. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford/SunLive.

7.30pm update: National Party candidate and current Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell has shot into an early lead with the race for Tauranga.

With only 38.2 per cent of the votes counted, Sam is leading with 11,659 votes and Labour candidate Jan Tinetti has 5.146 votes, a current margin of 6.513.

National is also in the lead with party votes, securing 49.85 per cent of the votes, with Labour on 17.54 per cent.

"We're really early days at the moment and of course this is the early vote coming in which never favours us anyway," says Jan.

"So, it is up quite a lot to the right at the moment, but we'll wait and see when the majority of the votes come in, when the booths start to come through later on in the night."

Tauranga Labour candidate and current list MP Jan Tinetti waiting on election night results with her supporters at Whareroa Marae. Photo: Merle Cave/SunLive.

"But I will say that it's been a really tough campaign. I feel exhausted and I feel like I've not left anything there, I've given it my all and that's as much as I could ask.

"I'm really proud of my team that are here tonight and the work that they've done in this campaign, cos it has not been easy.

"We've had a bit of abuse along the way, it hasn't always been a nice campaign. But it is what it is at this point in time."

Tauranga votes counted: 23,059 or 38.2 per cent:

Tauranga Candidates

Party

BALDOCK, Larry514

 

CROOKS, Justin1091

Green Party1607

HARVEY, Erika1769

New Zealand First Party2037

LANGRIDGE, Jono113

New Conservatives54

SAMUELS, Leon133

 

STOKMAN, Chelsea Jordan92

Animal Justice Party 36

SYDNEY, Mikaere Taingahue218

Te Pāti Māori172

TINETTI, Jan5146

Labour Party4043

UFFINDELL, Sam11659

National Party11494

YOUNG, Christine2022

ACT New Zealand2583

 

Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party34

 

DemocracyNZ25

 

Freedoms NZ77

 

Leighton Baker Party9

 

New Nation Party24

 

New Zealand Loyal153

 

NewZeal219

 

The Opportunities Party (TOP)377

 

Women’s Rights Party14

Candidate Informals: 302

Party Informals: 90

TOTAL: 23,059

TOTAL: 23,048

Earlier 7.20pm: With 25 per cent of the Tauranga votes counted, National MP and candidate Sam Uffindell is in the lead with 7,011 votes. Second candidate with a 3,621 margin is Labour’s candidate and List MP Jan Tinetti with 3,390 votes.

National is in the lead with 48 per cent of the party vote, with Labour sitting on 18.6 per cent.

There are another eight candidates running for the Tauranga electorate.

Erika Harvey and Kirsten Murfitt at Trinity Wharf Hotel on election night. Photo: Merle Cave/SunLive.

Erika Harvey who is 10th on the NZ First Party list currently has 1262 votes. Christine Young, who is 18th on the ACT part list has 1269 votes.

Larry Baldock, who entered the race barely six weeks ago, is running as an Independent candidate and has 337 votes so far.  He has previously served one term at Parliament with the United Future Party from 2002 - 2005, and says it was an exciting and influential one, as he found himself at the forefront of policy.

Mikaere Taingahue Sydney - Te Pāti Māori, Jono Langridge – New Conservatives, Leon Samuels – Vision New Zealand, Chelsea Stokman – Animal Justice Party,  and Justin Crooks – Green Party, round out the rest of the candidates standing for Tauranga this election.

2 comments

First job please.....

Posted on 15-10-2023 07:14 | By groutby

.....Sam, congratulations on the election result.....first job please: help give us back (for right or wrong) elected councillors, we have had enough of the unelected one eyed Muppet Show.....


@groutby

Posted on 16-10-2023 13:50 | By morepork

I agree that we need proper representation that is answerable to us, as a matter of urgency. This disgusting Commission needs to get off the gravy train and "take the money and run". (If I had my way, I'd see them tarred and feathered, but that's why I'm not in power... :-))However, Sam's priorities (as quoted in the article) DO include restoration of an elected Council. We need to give him a chance to settle into the job and start things moving. I believe he will serve us well and we will see action on all the issues noted in the article.


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