With 82 days to go until the September 20 general election, candidates for the Bay of Plenty seat are stepping up their campaign and hitting the streets to meet voters.

National Party candidate Todd Muller is making his presence felt across the region donning a new sign-written vehicle that certainly makes an impression.

Bay of Plenty National candidate Todd Muller with his newly sign-written SUV.

'Yeah I think my children got a bit of a fright when I pulled up at school to pick them up.”

Since winning the National Party nomination for the Bay of Plenty seat, to replace outgoing MP and Health Minister Tony Ryall on June 6, Todd is putting in the hours meeting potential voters.

He has visited about 200 homes, primarily in the Papamoa area, in the last week and says in an ironic turn of events the first person to invite him in was the owner of the house he and his wife first purchased in Papamoa 10 years ago.

'I have spent most of my time to date walking the streets of Papamoa where my wife Michelle and I first lived when we got married, bought our first home and had two of our three children.”

Todd is confident in the voters, but it is still early days and with National yet to announce its list, he isn't counting his chickens.

'I have had really positive feedback, people admire the fact you take the time to get out and meet people.

'I expect all of the MPs and candidates will be on the list, I don't have a particular interest in where I sit on that, my priority will be winning the Bay of Plenty seat.”

His campaign is based around informing voters of how National can build on a 'successful term” and strengthen the economy to further invest in law and order, health and education, and improve the effectiveness of public services.

He will also be further spreading the message on National policies once they are announced by Prime Minister John Key and MP Bill English.

After winning the National Party selection for the Bay seat in a two horse race with current Tauranga City Councillor Steve Morris, Todd resigned from his job at Fonterra in Auckland and moved his family of wife Michelle, and three children, Aimee, Bradley and Amelia back to Tauranga to focus on the campaign.

And Todd is not the only one on the trail.

Labour Party candidate for BOP, Clare Wilson, is running a community-level campaign focused around consultation with representatives of community groups.

'And hearing what they have to say, what challenges they are facing, what issues are most important to them in the next three years,” says Clare, who lives in Arataki.

'Our boundaries in the BOP electorate have changed this year, so we have lost Te Puke to the Rotorua electorate and we have gained my home patch of Arataki where I live and work and am entrenched in the neighbourhood.

'We know that the people of Maungatapu, Hairini and Welcome Bay have some messages that they are struggling to have heard, but also our smaller more rural communities of Te Puna, Poike, Minden, Whakamarama, Omanawa and Omokoroa, and the lower Kaimais.

'Papamoa is growing and the demographic changes it brings to the Bay of Plenty are very positive for our Labour campaign.”

Strong policies in Clare's campaign will be social welfare, and the 'struggle of the working poor”.

'Skyrocketing electricity and housing charges, grocery bills that are constantly increasing, but wages that are staying the same.

'We need to raise the minimum wage and we need to address a living wage, and ultimately we will see our people in a better place to spend on more than the need-to-haves.”

Clare believes this campaign is one based on grass-roots needs and as a candidate living, working and raising her family in Tauranga she is in touch and ready to advocate for the people's needs.

'I am one of the people, living here, working here, raising my family here, involved in school, sport, culture, health and education, my parents live here.”

Labour hoardings will be erected from July 20.