2019 Auckland mayoral election

The 2019 Auckland mayoral election was held on 12 October 2019 to determine who would serve as Mayor of Auckland for the next three years. Nominations opened on 19 July 2019 and closed on 16 August 2019.^[1] Incumbent Mayor Phil Goff won the election with 48% of the vote to secure a second term.^[2][3]

2019 Auckland mayoral election

← 2016 12 October 2019 2022 →
Registered	1,065,383
Turnout	367,796 (34.5%)
Candidate Phil Goff John Tamihere Party Independent Independent Popular vote 180,146 80,903 Percentage 49.0% 22.0%
Mayor before election Phil Goff Elected mayor Phil Goff

Background

Phil Goff was the incumbent mayor of Auckland. Goff became mayor at the 2016 election in which the previous mayor, Len Brown, did not stand. Goff announced in March 2019 that he would stand again.^[4]

The election was conducted by postal vote, and used the first past the post vote system.^[5]

Key dates

Key dates for the election were:^[6]

• 1 July: Electoral Commission enrolment campaign began.
• 19 July: Nominations opened for candidates. Rolls opened for inspection.
• 16 August: Nominations closed at 12 noon. Rolls closed.
• 21 August: Election date and candidates' names announced.
• 20 to 25 September: Voting documents delivered to households. Electors could post the documents back to electoral officers as soon as they had voted.
• 12 October: Polling day. Voting documents had to be at council before voting closed at 12 noon. Preliminary results were to be available as soon as all ordinary votes were counted.
• 17 to 23 October: Official results, including all valid ordinary and special votes, declared.

Candidates

The 21 candidates for the mayoralty were:^[7][8]

Name	Affiliation	Notes
Tricia Cheel	STOP Trashing our Planet	Cheel had previously run for mayor,[9] and had stood for Parliament for the Ban 1080 Party[10] and the Democrats for Social Credit.[11] She has opposed fluoride,[9] vaccinations,[12] glyphosate,[13] and 1080 drops.[10]
Michael Coote	Independent
David John Feist	LiftNZ
Genevieve Forde	none	Forde's main issues were addressing climate change and regenerating nature.[14]
Phil Goff	Independent	The incumbent mayor, in the role since 2016. Goff was a Labour Party Member of Parliament 1981–1990 and 1993–2016, and was leader of the party for three years. He resigned as an MP after being elected as mayor and ran as an independent in this election.[15]
Alezix Heneti	none
Jannaha Henry	none	A 21-year old candidate.[16]
John Hong	Independent	Also known as Hong Cheng Chen,[17] he immigrated from China in 2003[18] and ran for mayor for the first time.[19] A right-wing candidate, he had previously worked for Panuku Development Auckland, and was the chair of the New Zealand promotion committee for China's Belt and Road Initiative and a government relations adviser for the Chao San General Association of New Zealand.[17]
Ted Johnston	none	A 59-year-old criminal barrister from South Auckland and former parliamentary candidate for The Opportunities Party. Policies included helping the poor and disadvantaged, stopping "secret meetings", protecting parks and the environment and building fast rail.[citation needed]
Susanna Kruger	Justice for Families
Craig Lord	Independent	A media operator,[15] this was Lord's first time standing in an election. Lord stated that he had no policies and that he considered the mayor to be a 'token' job, given the role of the 20 other councillors.[20]
Brendan Bruce Maddern	Independent
Thanh Binh Nguyen	Independent
Phil O'Connor	Christians Against Abortion
Tom Sainsbury	Independent	A comedian running under an alter-ego of Fiona (though the name on the ballot was Tom Sainsbury). Fiona claimed in a video that running for mayor was a mistake she made when drunk.[21]
Glen Snelgar	Old Skool	A right-wing candidate who sought to remove fuel taxes and lower rates.[19]
Tadhg Tim Stopford	The Hemp Foundation	Stopford is the founder of The Hemp Foundation,[22] which seeks to promote cannabinoids for medicine and industrial uses.[23]
John Tamihere	JT for Mayor	Tamihere was a Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1999 to 2005, and held Cabinet positions.[24] He was not affiliated with Labour in this election.
Peter Vaughan	none	A numerologist,[25] Vaughan stated that pollution is the biggest issue facing Auckland, particularly landfills.[19]
Annalucia Vermunt	Communist League
Wayne Young	Virtual Homeless Community

Prospective candidates who did not stand

The following people indicated they might, or would, run for mayor in this election, but ultimately did not.

• Mike Lee, councillor^[26]
• John Lehmann, president of the Government Accountability League – announced intention to run^[27][28] but did not appear in the list of candidates when nominations closed
• Joshua Love, hospitality entrepreneur – announced intention to run^[29] but did not appear in the list of candidates when nominations closed
• Simon O'Connor, MP for Tamaki^[30]
• John Palino, restaurateur and 2013 and 2016 candidate – announced intention to run on 25 November 2018^[31] but withdrew on 12 August 2019,^[32] intending to run for Auckland Council instead.^[33]

Policies and campaigning

The campaign included a number of debates. One debate between Goff, Tamihere, Lord, and Henry discussed issues such as infrastructure, public transport, climate change, parking, and inequality, among other topics.^[34] The last debate was on 1 October.^[35] Candidate Phil Goff compared the campaign to the previous one saying: "It's a lot different from last time, we had a lot of meetings last time, it's been a more aggressive campaign from his [John Tamihere's] side."^[36]

Candidate John Tamihere faced controversy for using the term "Sieg Heil" during a debate. After Goff stated "We won't put up with the sort of nonsense that we get from racists coming into this country to tell us that multiculturalism doesn't work," Tamihere responded, "I say sieg heil to that." After the debate, Tamihere initially denied using the term, then stated his comments were a criticism of Goff's actions around a decision to bar controversial Canadian speakers Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern from using an Auckland Council venue in 2018, calling Goff "a dictator".^[37]

Tamihere made a complaint over three social media posts posted by Phil Goff, but the complaints were rejected by the Advertising Standards Authority.^[38][39]

Some voting booklets contained two incorrect photographs, including showing mayoral candidate Tricia Cheel as a man.^[40]

Endorsements

Phil Goff

• New Zealand Labour Party – political party^[41]
• David Tua – professional boxer^[42]

John Tamihere

• Christine Fletcher – current councillor^[43]
• John Banks – former Mayor of Auckland City^[44]

Results

2019 Auckland mayoral election^[45][46]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Phil Goff	180,146	48.97	+1.68
	Independent	John Tamihere	80,903	21.99
	Independent	Craig Lord	29,577	8.04
	Independent	John Hong	16,211	4.40
	Independent	Ted Johnston	15,637	4.25
	Independent	Peter Vaughan	6,214	1.68
	Independent	Michael Coote	5,611	1.52
	STOP Trashing Our Planet	Tricia Cheel	4,116	1.11	+0.60
	Christians Against Abortion	Phil O'Connor	3,984	1.08	+0.55
	Independent	Genevieve Forde	2,923	0.79
	Justice For Families	Susanna Kruger	2,894	0.78	+0.36
	Independent	Tom Sainsbury	2,853	0.77
	Old Skool	Glen Snelgar	2,608	0.70
	The Hemp Foundation	Tadhg Stopford	2,445	0.66
	Independent	Jannaha Henry	2,417	0.65
	LiftNZ	David Feist	2,301	0.62
	Independent	Brendan Maddern	1,446	0.39
	Virtual Homeless Community	Wayne Young	1,412	0.38	−0.03
	Communist League	Annalucia Vermunt	1,055	0.28
	Independent	Thanh Binh Nguyen	954	0.25	±0.00
	Independent	Alezix Heneti	514	0.13	−0.02
Total valid votes			366,221	99.57
Informal votes			1,575	0.43	+0.06
Majority			99,243	26.98	+7.85
Turnout			367,796	34.52	−3.37
Registered electors			1,065,383

By local board

Local board subdivisions won by Goff

Local board subdivision won by Lord

Source:^[47]

		Phil Goff		John Tamihere		Craig Lord		John Hong		Ted Johnston		Others[A]		Total
Board	Subdivision[B]	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Albert-Eden	Owairaka	7,980	63.31	2,058	16.33	622	4.93	386	3.06	369	2.93	1189	9.43	12,604
Albert-Eden	Maungawhau	7,561	58.36	2,630	20.3	495	3.82	762	5.88	423	3.27	1084	8.37	12,955
Aotea/GreatBarrier	—	200	47.73	93	22.2	30	7.16	1	0.24	9	2.15	86	20.53	419
Devonport-Takapuna	—	8,568	50.89	3,647	21.66	1,103	6.55	814	4.83	825	4.9	1,880	11.17	16,837
Franklin	Waiuku	1,530	39.28	770	19.77	737	18.92	44	1.13	222	5.7	592	15.2	3,895
Franklin	Pukekohe	3,714	43.54	1,738	20.37	1,458	17.09	87	1.02	447	5.24	1,087	12.74	8,531
Franklin	Wairoa	3,027	45.77	1,509	22.82	899	13.59	98	1.48	326	4.93	755	11.42	6,614
Henderson-Massey	—	10,240	42.83	6,480	27.1	2,100	8.78	1,095	4.58	808	3.38	3,185	13.32	23,908
Hibiscus and Bays	Hibiscus Coast	6,536	40.37	4,039	24.94	2,075	12.81	305	1.88	968	5.98	2,269	14.01	16,192
Hibiscus and Bays	East Coast Bays	5,731	44.01	2,825	21.7	1,176	9.03	786	6.04	823	6.32	1,680	12.9	13,021
Howick	Pakuranga	4,866	43.53	2,442	21.85	786	7.03	1,273	11.39	547	4.89	1,264	11.31	11,178
Howick	Howick	5,525	43.77	2,878	22.8	1,061	8.4	1,118	8.86	678	5.37	1,364	10.8	12,624
Howick	Botany	5,989	45.29	2647	20.02	669	5.06	1762	13.32	566	4.28	1,592	12.04	13,225
Kaipātiki	—	10,066	48.94	3,990	19.4	1,802	8.76	1,194	5.8	780	3.79	2,738	13.31	20,570
Māngere-Ōtāhuhu	—	6,578	54.37	2,855	23.6	388	3.21	156	1.29	403	3.33	1,719	14.21	12,099
Manurewa	—	7,454	48.58	3,886	25.32	795	5.18	341	2.22	646	4.21	2,223	14.49	15,345
Maungakiekie-Tāmaki	Maungakiekie	4,157	57.95	1,361	18.97	399	5.56	249	3.47	298	4.15	710	9.9	7,174
Maungakiekie-Tāmaki	Tāmaki	4,491	51.97	1,803	20.87	410	4.74	318	3.68	348	4.03	1,271	14.71	8,641
Ōrākei	—	13,799	52.9	6,602	25.31	1,296	4.97	848	3.25	1,247	4.78	2,295	8.8	26,087
Ōtara-Papatoetoe	Papatoetoe	4,136	53.73	1,674	21.75	296	3.85	215	2.79	312	4.05	1,065	13.83	7,698
Ōtara-Papatoetoe	Otara	2,527	51.81	1,304	26.74	80	1.64	78	1.6	188	3.85	700	14.35	4,877
Papakura	—	5,285	47.91	2,575	23.34	992	8.99	207	1.88	498	4.51	1,474	13.36	11,031
Puketāpapa	—	8,427	60.49	2,490	17.87	605	4.34	844	6.06	416	2.99	1,150	8.25	13,932
Rodney	Wellsford	308	20.37	365	24.14	570	37.7	16	1.06	58	3.84	195	12.9	1,512
Rodney	Warkworth	2,499	36.2	1,793	25.97	1,256	18.19	53	0.77	359	5.2	943	13.66	6,903
Rodney	Kumeu	2,792	33.42	2,103	25.17	1,785	21.36	112	1.34	425	5.09	1,138	13.62	8,355
Rodney	Dairy Flat	609	34.48	509	28.82	226	12.8	79	4.47	130	7.36	213	12.06	1,766
Upper Harbour	Upper Harbour	5,831	39.7	3,307	22.52	1,544	10.51	1,380	9.4	727	4.95	1,898	12.92	14,687
Waiheke	—	1,799	54.88	608	18.55	218	6.65	13	0.4	178	5.43	462	14.09	3,278
Waitākere Ranges	—	7,231	51.33	2,771	19.67	1,698	12.05	201	1.43	437	3.1	1,749	12.42	14,087
Waitematā	—	11,342	61.46	3,535	19.16	678	3.67	374	2.03	658	3.57	1,867	10.12	18,454
Whau	—	9,348	52.75	3,616	20.4	1,328	7.49	1,002	5.65	518	2.92	1,910	10.78	17,722
Total		180,146	49.19	80,903	22.09	29,577	8.08	16,211	4.43	15,637	4.27	43,747	11.95	366,221

Turnout

Turnout was expected to be lower than in previous elections. Initial counts, while voting was still open, showed turnout to be lower compared with the same time in the 2016 election.^[38][35] The final turnout for Auckland was predicted to be around 35%.^[48][49]

See also

• 2019 Auckland local elections

Notes

1. Excludes informal votes
2. Not all local boards are subdivided