Tāmati Coffey says he was shoulder tapped to replace Kiri Allan as Labour's East Coast candidate.
It comes after Allan resigned last week following her arrest for careless driving.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Coffey said it's been a "tragic unfolding of events" in the past week since Allan stood down.
"She [Allan] is still in a recovery state so it's hard to get all high and excited about it but she more than anybody would want us to have a strong candidate in the East Coast seat."
In March, Coffey announced he would retire from politics at this year's election.
But he said after being approached to replace Allan, he talked to his family about it and he's now "ready to step up".
"They [his family] were the reason I stood back from Parliament and politics when I gave my resignation in March but they were also the people that gave me the green light and said 'you know what, this is a different set of circumstances we back you, go for it'."
Asked why he doesn't want to retire from politics anymore, Coffey said things have changed significantly.
"Yeah, I made a decision, things have now changed over the last week, I'm making another decision and I'm ready to go."
Coffey said he's spoken to Allan, who says she fully supports his decision to run for East Coast.
"I think I'm the best candidate, I think the people of the East Coast want and need a strong representative.
"The East Coast has been through so much this year, and it needs an experienced champion in Parliament."
He said he'll be travelling to the East Coast this week to start on campaign work, "this is what you get with an experienced MP, someone who can hit the ground running and that's what I'm doing."
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