One way or another, Kelvin Davis will still be in Parliament this evening but whether he wins his Te Tai Tokerau electorate is another story.
He’s no.2 on the Labour list so is guaranteed to return but his rival, Te Māori Pāti’s Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, is seventh on the Te Pāti Māori list and would need to ride a ‘brown tide’ to get in on the list.
Davis started out as a list MP but finally won the electorate from Hone Harawira in 2014 and has held it since. In the last election, as part of the “red tide”, he beat first-time opponent Kapa-Kingi by 8164 votes.
As an MP, he rose to fame, digging into issues such as the private company Serco’s handling of the Mt Eden remand facility and New Zealanders kept in poor conditions by Australia on Christmas Island. He became the first deputy party leader of Māori descent.
As a cabinet minister, he has held several controversial portfolios – Corrections and Oranga Tamariki. He was strongly criticised for staying silent during the Waikeria prison riot and he had overseen the replacement of two chief executives at the troubled child welfare agency.
Kapa-Kingi has worked in iwi social services for over 30 years, more recently holding positions such as project specialist for Te Rūnanga o Whaingaroa.
There are two other candidates: Maki Herbert for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party and Paturiri Toatu, an independent.
