Tory Whanau drops out of mayoral race

The mayor of Wellington has announced she will not be seeking re-election at this year's local election, and will instead stand in the Māori ward.
Wellington mayor Tory Whanau has announced that she will not be seeking a second term when the city heads to the polls later this year. As of today, Whanau will instead run for councillor of Te Whanganui-a-Tara, the Wellington City Council's Māori ward, with the goal of delivering 'progressive and transformational change for Wellington' while campaigning alongside her left-bloc rival Andrew Little, rather than against him.
After appearing to waver late last year, in February Whanau formally confirmed that she would be seeking re-election as mayor and, earlier this month, said she would be standing as a Green Party candidate. In 2022, when she unseated the incumbent Andy Foster in a landslide victory to become the first Māori mayor of Wellington, Whanau ran as an independent but was endorsed by the Greens.
Today's announcement comes the day after the mayor launched the first stage of the Golden Mile upgrade in Courtenay Place, a project Whanau said had been a 'key milestone for my mayoralty and the transformative change I campaigned on'. Now, with the project under way and Labour-endorsed candidate Little, a former minister and party leader, stepping into the race, Whanau said recent developments had 'changed the game'. Advance voting in the local elections kicks off in less than five months, opening on September 9 and closing on October 11.
'I have a lot of respect for Andrew and his leadership skills. He has support from many corners and the skills and experience to unite our council,' Whanau said in a statement to The Spinoff. 'When I had put my name forward to run for mayor again, I was worried there were no viable candidates for mayor. Now that has changed, I can now focus on what is important to me.'
Whanau said the 'progressive goals' she had fought for were at risk this election, and she didn't want a 'Green vs Labour narrative to distract from what's important for our city. That is not what this election should be about.'
Last week, Whanau told The Spinoff she was trying to 'poach' Labour's current Onslow-Western ward councillor Rebecca Matthews to run for the Greens, after Matthews was apparently frozen out by Labour. Matthews confirmed she intended to seek the Green Party nomination.
Whanau said her focus now was on 'working to get a strong group of Green candidates elected to WCC to push for progressive change'.
'I am incredibly excited about running for the Māori ward at a time when te Tiriti is under attack from central government. 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.'
The current Māori ward councillor is the Greens' Nīkau Wi Neera, who was voted in when the ward was established in 2022, and who will not be seeking re-election. Wi Neera was a central figure in reversing the decision to sell the council's shares in Wellington airport, and late last year told The Spinoff, 'I think there are lots of people at the party who want to kick me out.'
Whanau thanked Wi Neera for his 'tireless mahi on advancing kaupapa Māori for Wellington City Council', while Wi Neera told The Spinoff, 'Tory has great relationships with our mana whenua, and will continue the transformational process she has begun as mayor. I expect she and Andrew will make a fantastic team.'
Wellington City Council voted to retain its Māori ward in September last year, but constituents will get the final say in a binding poll being held as part of this year's local election, a controversial requirement mandated by legislation passed by the coalition government. The change will come into effect from 2028, meaning no matter the result of the poll, Wellington's next Māori ward councillor is safe for at least a term. Whanau has said she is confident Wellingtonians will vote to retain the ward.
Whanau's mayoralty has been marred by a number of personal controversies, as well as in-fighting within the council and with central government. The projects that are likely to define her term are yet to be fully realised, such as the Golden Mile upgrade and the District Plan, while her championing of cycleways has provided more immediate changes to the city (though are a thorn in the side for some ratepayers).
Whanau said her mayoralty had been shaped by 'bold decisions that will make our city a better place for generations to come'. She said she was most proud of directing 30% of the council's budget ($1.8bn) towards water, passing the District Plan, constructing new cycleways and bus lanes, the planting of 223,000 trees across the city, boosting funding to address city safety and the homeless and further funding for the City Mission to open Wellington's first wet house, Te Pā Maru.
Other projects she highlighted are still to be completed, such as the reopening of the Moa Point waste plant, the Central Library and Te Ngakau Civic Square, all scheduled to be completed in early to mid 2026. Whanau also cited the opening of the Town Hall, set for 2027, and the regeneration of Courtenay Place, to be completed in 2028.
As of today, the mayoral contest is between Little, councillor Ray Chung, businessman Karl Tiefenbacher, conservationist Kelvin Hastie, former city councillor Rob Goulden and former owner of Wellington LIVE Graham Bloxham, but candidate nominations don't close until August. In the race to be the Māori ward councillor, Whanau will come up against the Labour-backed Matthew Reweti, who ran for the same position in the 2022 elections and lost by 65 votes.
'Change isn't easy and will always have its critics,' Whanau said. 'But I have stayed true to the vision I was elected to deliver and always been upfront about the challenges we face.'
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