Wairarapa electorate election result, Digi Mart USA News (Wairarapa, New Zealand): The Wairarapa electorate result appears set to be a tight one after early votes were counted. Labour’s Kieran McAnulty is leading National’s Mike Butterick by a margin of 658 votes with 18.8% of votes counted.
The 2026 contest is a National–Labour rematch between National incumbent Butterick, a sheep-and-beef farmer and Associate Minister of Agriculture, and McAnulty, Labour’s 2026 election campaign chair. The electorate is often seen as a rural swing seat, with a geography that stretches across Wairarapa, Tararua and part of Central Hawke’s Bay.
Communities in the electorate include Carterton, Featherston, Greytown, Martinborough and Eketāhuna.
Eight candidates contested the seat. They include former Defence Minister and twice Carterton mayor Ron Mark for NZ First, first-time candidate Lauren Craig for the Greens, Masterton relief teacher and former Navy chef Matt Shepherd for The Opportunities Party, Victoria Ale for Alliance, Barry Young for the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party and Jared Warren Gardner for Te Pāti Hira.
Only Butterick and McAnulty had a realistic chance to win, while Shepherd, Craig and Mark were asking for the party vote.
In 2023, Butterick won Wairarapa from Labour incumbent McAnulty on the final count, 20,313 votes to 17,497, a margin of 2,816. Turnout was 82.66%.
The electorate party vote that year was National 17,397, Labour 12,223 and Act 4,752.
On election night, Butterick led McAnulty 17,908 to 15,427, or 2,481 votes. Special votes increased the final margin by 335.
