Labor’s Jo Luxton has a big advantage in domestically owned Rangitata

Labor candidate Jo Luxton’s lead is 3,879 in the battle for the Rangitata seat as the vote count surpasses 64 percent.

Luxton, a congresswoman on the 2017 Labor list and ranked 41st on the current list, has received 15,592 votes so far, while National Party candidate Megan Hands, 67 on her party’s list, has received more than 11,713 with 64.4 percent counted.

Luxton said her lead was “really exciting for the team, but I’m still too nervous to call her up.”

The vote may need to be counted at 99 percent before she feels comfortable calling him, she said.

Luxton said she was “excited” for her colleagues who were doing well in typically blue constituencies, like Waitaki’s Labor candidate Liam Wairepo.

“It would be amazing to see some new colleagues in parliament.”

The seat is held by National with Hands becoming the party’s candidate after the resignation of disgraced former Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon in August.

National has held the seat since its inception in 2008 with Jo Goodhew, the 2008-2014 MP before Falloon was elected in 2017.

In reaction to the first votes that put her at the helm, Luxton said she was happy to have received more votes than in the last election, which was 13,663.

“I’m probably feeling a little more nervous now than I did before at night, but it’s good to see it,” she said.

“It’s not over yet”.

This marks Luxton’s second attempt at the seat, which he described as a “pretty impressive ride.”

Luxton said he expected between 80 and 100 people to attend his “low-key” election night party at Sopheze on the Bay in Timaru.

“Regardless of the result, the team has worked so hard that it is very nice to share the night with them,” he said earlier.

Some 40 people have gathered in Timaru to see the results of the elections with Hands at the Landing Services Building.

“I am happy to be here with my fans and my family as we watch the vows arrive tonight,” said Hands. Stuff.

“It seems pretty tight, which is what we always anticipate, so we’ll have to wait and see what the voters do at the end of the night.”

Waitaki counting

In the region’s other electorate, Waitaki, incumbent national MP Jacqui Dean, who is ranked 14th on the party’s list, is locked in a major battle with Liam Wairepo of the Labor Party, ranked 83 by his party, with a 43 percent counted.

Dean, who is seeking a sixth term, has slipped ahead of Wairepo, 10.344-10.113.

Wairepo, who is at his campaign office in Oamaru with about 30 friends and volunteers, said taking the lead was a “testament” to the hard work of his campaign volunteers.

“I’m in a room full of our volunteers and the energy is bright,” he said.

“It is a testament to the hard work of Labor and the Waitaki branch.”

He said he had taken time off from work and study to “put everything” into his campaign.

“This is my first time as a candidate [of any electorate] and it’s a pretty good result. “

He said his main focus was to see Labor in Parliament and becoming a Waitaki MP would be an advantage.

Wairepo, based in Oamaru, has been a member of the Labor Party since he was 17 years old and has worked on local government campaigns for the party, as well as in the office of former Health Minister Dr. David Clark.

In the run-up to the election, Wairepo said the electorate’s tourism and hospitality industries had been badly affected by Covid-19.

“We still don’t know when the borders will open again, we have to have a plan for when they do,” he said.