Police ‘making enquiries’ into reported trespass at Te Pāti Māori candidate’s home | Oct 5 2023

Labour’s Whanganui MP says the mood on the ground in her electorate is very different from the state of the nationwide polls.

Steph Lewis entered parliament in 2020 with a 3,000 vote majority – a majority that she’s fighting to maintain on October 14.

But it won’t be easy, with the electorate held by National for 15 years prior. Whanganui has been identified as an electorate that could flip back to blue on election night. If Lewis doesn’t win reelection, she won’t make it back on the party’s list. At number 50, just a handful of places improved on her 2020 placing, Lewis made it into parliament off the back of the “red wave”.

“Maybe it’s time to update polling methods, but that’s a conversation for somebody else,” Lewis told The Spinoff over the phone. “My message to voters is there is a lot at stake this election… I think it’s going to be very close, 2020 was definitely an outlier but I have worked really hard in the last three years.”

Lewis said she was never one to chase a list ranking and was simply committed to being a local MP.

During door knocking sessions and while out in the community, Lewis said she had encountered quite a few undecided voters. There hasn’t been “large numbers” backing the opposition, she claimed. “People appreciate what Labour has done and appreciate that actually we haven’t had a normal three years or even a normal six years.”

Lewis said she’s been accessible as an MP and was confident she had demonstrated to the public that she would work hard and advocate for them down in Wellington.

While 2020 saw National’s Harete Hipango ousted in Whanganui, this time around Lewis is facing first time candidate Carl Bates. The businessman told the Herald he had the skills necessary to represent the electorate.

“My wife Candice and I basically completely rejigged our lives so I would put everything into standing as the Whanganui electorate candidate for National,” he said.