The race for the Tukituki electorate is heating up as Labour and National candidates face off in a region that has been battered by devastating Cyclone Gabrielle.
Labour's Anna Lorck, who won the seat in 2020 by a slim margin of 1590 votes, is hoping to retain her position as the local MP up against National's Catherine Wedd.
Both candidates have been campaigning hard in the electorate, which covers Hastings, Havelock North and parts of the Hawke's Bay coast.
Lorck has been focusing on her track record of helping people on the ground, especially after Cyclone Gabrielle hit the region in February.
The electorate MP said she has been working to help local residents and businesses.
"The way I hold onto this electorate is from the work I've been doing," she said.
"I'm a workhorse politician so that means I get out and work with people on the ground."
One local who is singing Lorck's praises is popular teacher Wyn Drabble. He said the MP helped him navigate surgery waiting lists.
Wedd, on the other hand, has been highlighting the Government's track record alongside her past career experience.
She has been meeting small business owners and said Tukituki faced a gang problem.
"Our party is going to introduce policy to crack down on the gangs."
Wedd said the Government needed to do more to support local growers, who have been struggling amid the cyclone aftermath.
She took Q+A to one of the few packhouses in Tukituki still operating.
"Growers have found it really tough for six years under this Government. There's been so many regulations, cost, and then that's been compounded by a cyclone," Wedd said.
The candidate's last job was in the horticultural industry and she said her previous work experience, which included being a TVNZ journalist, had a lot to offer to voters.
But Lorck and Wedd aren't the only ones on the campaign trail in the race.
ACT's Rob Douglas is also campaigning in Tukituki — but only for the party vote. He is the nephew of Sir Roger Douglas, who co-founded the party three decades ago.
He said he is proud of his uncle's work, even though Sir Roger recently said he would not vote for ACT. Douglas believes his uncle is a swing voter and he thinks he will come back.
Douglas is 16th on ACT's list, which means he has a chance of getting into Parliament if the party does well in the election — whoever Tukituki chooses.
Q+A with Jack Tame is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air
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