ACT's Deputy today put her hand up to contest one of the bluest seats in the country - Tāmaki.
In her announcement, she said she hoped to bring a "fresh vibrant voice to Tāmaki" by unseating current Tāmaki MP Simon O'Connor of National, who has held the seat since 2011.
National's Rob Muldoon won the seat in 1960, and the party has held it ever since.
However, current MP Simon O'Connor - a social conservative - has courted controversy, agreeing to remove an anti-abortion comment from social media at the request of his party leader.
Van Velden, who says she is pro-choice, began her campaign against O'Connor by targeting O'Connor's views on abortion.
"Over the past few years I've had a number of people in the Tāmaki electorate - especially women - say they do not feel repesented by the local MP because of his anti abortion views," she said.
"I am pro-choice... I am pro freedom... I want everybody in this electorate to feel like they can have choices over those fundamental rights."
O'Connor showed little deterrence following Van Velden's announcement, saying the outcome would be "very predictable... as an electorate MP who lives in the electorate who is there just about every day".
National Leader Christopher Luxon was not discouraged either, expressing further support for O'Connor earlier today.
"We have an excellent local candidate [and] constituent MP in Simon O'Connor," he said, "He's been advocating for that electorate, he's been doing all the constituency work incredibly well over many years."
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