2020 Election Results: Hutt South: Behind The Scenes Of An Electorate Until The Last Moment

The results at Hutt South began as they intended to continue for most of the night.

The rift between Labor’s Ginny Andersen and National’s Chris Bishop continued to close and widen throughout the night.

Hearts were pounding, nervous glances were exchanged, beer was spilled between trembling fingers.

Both candidates had been here before, in 2017, when they clashed after incumbent Congressman Trevor Mallard decided to run on the list alone, intending to become Speaker of the House.

But this time the night wave came for Andersen, not Bishop.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., a majority of 1,158 landed, which rose to 2,292 when all the votes were counted.

For the past three years, the seat has been a blue island in a red sea. The Wellington region is largely a stronghold for Labor, but Bishop turned things around in 2017.

He held the National seat by a margin of 1,530 votes. It was a victory that marked the first time a national deputy has held the electorate since the seat was formed under the MMP in 1996.

Andersen was gutted, but promised she would fight for the seat again in 2020.

Andersen not only fought hard this time, but he had an extraordinary left swing on his side.

Hutt South comprises most of the city of Lower Hutt, including the eastern communities of Wainuiomata and Eastbourne, and the western hill suburbs such as Korokoro and Belmont.

How it happened

Bishop held his election evening at The Victoria Tavern on Petone’s Main Street.

Blue lights set the scene at the bar and helium balloons are hung around the venue.

Bishop was “pretty nervous” at 9pm.

All members of the media seem to have arrived at the same time and he goes from interview to interview.

The gap between him and Andersen keeps changing, sometimes it’s a few hundred votes and sometimes it’s close to a thousand. Yet Andersen is constantly at the forefront.

“I have put my heart and soul into this campaign,” Bishop told the Herald.

“I just have to see if that’s enough. These things tend to bounce off the Hutt, last time he went back and forth until 10:30 from memory, hopefully that will happen again, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

That’s the sentiment of his fans too, who know they have to buckle up for a long night after how the result unfolded last time.

Andersen was consistently ahead in 2017 until late at night when the seat moved toward Bishop.

As volunteers and supporters await the steady stream of results in the electorate, they see with open eyes what is happening in the rest of the country.

It’s an absolute bloodbath for National, poignantly illustrated for a group of Bishop supporters by Gerry Brownlee losing Ilam, a seat he has held for 24 years.

But as the blue seats turn red, Hutt South is still too close to call.

Bishop knows how bad this is for his party across the country and that it would be an extraordinary victory for him to keep his seat considering that.

However, there is a ray of hope, because his victory in 2017 was also quite extraordinary.

At 10 p.m., Andersen’s camp feels overpowered.

His volunteers are obviously delighted by the huge Labor victory across the country, but they have worked on the Andersen campaign and the margin on Hutt South just closed at 234.

The media has driven down Wainuiomata Hill to watch the election night event in the halls of the local rugby club.

Andersen is huddled around the supporters at a table watching the national results.

An interview request comes with a wary look from Andersen, who tells a Labor press secretary that he will speak in 10 minutes.

Just after 10:20 p.m., the margin has closed again, this time to an impressive 110 votes.

Andersen speaks to the media saying she is overwhelmed by how well the party has done across the country.

She tells reporters that there is no way of knowing in which direction the electorate will move at this time of night, but that it will always be a close race.

“We’ve both had an incredibly tough fight here and that is represented in the numbers we see tonight.”

Just minutes after Andersen sits down again, there is a sudden scream from his followers followed by something that sounds more like a screech.

In an incredible turn of events, the next round of results is ruled out, giving Andersen a 1158 majority over Bishop.

When 91.1 percent of the votes are counted, Andersen has a majority of 1,771.

Speaking to the media for the second time in the space of about 10 minutes, Andersen is not prepared to call him.

The journalists tell him that they have called him. Andersen looks at the press secretary: can you call her?

Then look at your phone where the congratulatory messages are flooding in.

It is finally assimilated. She has taken Hutt South. She can call him.

Andersen says the night felt like a roller coaster.

“It has been the fight of my life. I have worked every day to win back this electorate and I am proud to do so.”

She says that she and Bishop have always worked well together and is glad that Hutt South still has two electorate-based MPs.

The media is rushing across the hill again to see Bishop talking about the result.

He’s absolutely shattered.

“In the last three years I have given my heart and soul to this seat and I have worked very hard,” he told his fans.

“And we knew that going into 2020 would be a tough fight, because the Labor Party believes that Hutt South is their birthright, and the Labor Party believes that they own this seat and I was determined for the past three years that that no. It is the case, that you cannot take any seat for granted.

“But as they say in politics, when the swing is on, the swing is on.”

National Wellington Central candidate Nicola Willis was there for Bishop’s speech after an outright left slip in her constituency.

Grant Robertson of Labor increased his majority over her to 14,935.

The Greens got the party’s second-highest vote of 30.7 percent in Central Wellington, behind Labor.

Bishop describes Willis as his “best partner in the caucus.” Both are still ready to enter the list as parliamentarians.

The pair have been a somewhat dynamic duo, talking about Wellington themes for the past three years.

But the role they played in orchestrating Todd Muller’s eventual disastrous leadership offer will suit them even worse now than it probably already was.

Just before midnight they meet in front of a television camera for a joint interview.

Petone’s street lights are, coincidentally, lit blue, perhaps a final acknowledgment of Bishop’s reign.