Is voting Bishop in Hutt South a ‘two-for-one’ deal?

Last week on my post ‘Who might be an MP?‘ one reader commented: 

“Unless Labour, ACT, Green and NZF as well as National voters in the Hutt [South] electorate vote for Chris Bishop and party vote for their own parties then Chris Bishop may not make it back.”

There are two paths back into Parliament for Chris Bishop – a win in Hutt South, or the National Party having at least two list MPs. Both of these paths are looking far from certain right now.

Yet at number 12 on Labour’s list, Labour’s Hutt South candidate Ginny Anderson looks assured of a place in Parliament.

This leaves voters with a classic ‘two-for-one’ deal in Hutt South, where an Andersen win leaves the seat represented only by Andersen, while a Bishop win sees both Bishop and Andersen returned.

Whatever your politics, it’s hard to deny that Bishop has been a fierce and effective voice for the Hutt since he was first elected in 2014. He’s a hardworking and well-liked local MP despite a seriously heavy ministerial workload. I’ve never seen a more effective local MP in terms of what he does and achieves. Just reading his weekly newsletter often leaves me tried!

Bishop became the first ever National MP to win the previously safe Labour seat in 2017. The seat flipped back to Labour in 2020, despite Bishop outperforming National’s party vote by a staggering 41.59% (Bishop) to 21.99% (National). Bishop took back the seat in 2023 with a slim margin of just 1332 votes.

Bishop has beaten the odds before and I think there’s every reason to think he can do it again. I certainly hope so, because Hutt South deserves an MP like him.