And that’s it, the people have spoken.
Maybe not in their droves, but we’ve had our say.
This high profile spot in Cambridge featured billboards for Liz Stolwyk, Roger Gordon and Mike Pettit. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
A new mayor. Stalwarts like Susan O’Regan, Lou Brown and Philip Coles gone from the Waipā District Council.
Andrew Myers
The Māori ward is consigned to history in three years’ time. A crop of fresh faces is on the Cambridge Community Board – with Andrew Myers the notable exception – and the winner of the best portrait campaign photo got in on the Te Awamutu-Kihikihi Community Board.
Website statistics since September 9, when voting began, gave Good Local Media a taster for who and what readers were interested in. Unfortunately, they did not tell us who would win.
In Cambridge, the top election story was ‘Waipā council’s last stand’. Second was ‘The friendly five’, about Waikato District Council’s Tamahere-Woodlands candidates. Third was Stu Kneebone’s candidate Q&A page, followed by Liz Stolwyk’s and Clyde Graf’s.
Other top-performing Cambridge stories included: Cambridge candidates and Cambridge Community Board candidates in their own words, Garry Reymer’s candidate page, ‘O’Regan does it again’, ‘Principal in the clear’ and Regional council candidates’ views.
The other best performing individual candidate pages were in order: Hope Spooner, Pip Kempthorne, Mike Pettit, Dave Marinkovich, Stuart Matthews, Charlotte FitzPatrick, Stuart Hylton, Ian Hayton, Susan O’Regan, Aidhean Camson, Karla Lugatiman and Aksel Bech.
Mike Pettit
In Te Awamutu the most popular election story was Principal in the clear when mayoral candidate and Cambridge Primary School principal Mike Pettit conceded to being naïve about plugging his campaign in the school newsletter.
Second was O’Regan does it again, a report from the Te Awamutu Business Chamber meet the candidates event. In third place was Waipā council’s last stand, the On the Hustings piece about the last meeting where a notice of motion by Roger Gordon was withdrawn.
Rounding out the top six were Garage project stalls, about the Holmes Garage community space, Council hits a speed bump, revealing mayoral candidates’ views on the Kihikihi road and footpath changes and Consultants cash clash where the Rates Control team candidates for Waikato Regional Council were at odds with then chair Pamela Storey about consultants v consultancy services.
Individual candidates’ responses which drew highest readership were in order: Clyde Graf, Liz Stolwyk, Garry Reymer, Stu Kneebone, Susan O’Regan, Naomi Pocock, Dean Taylor, Graham Jull, Clare St Pierre, Marcus Gower, Mike Pettit, Ange Holt and Lyn Hunt.
New Cambridge councillor Jo Davies-Colley had a limited budget so invested in a few billboards that won our vote for the best on show. Simple message, a top photo and yellow always stands out. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Several weeks ago, we asked award-winning photographer Christine Cornege to pick her top portrait shots, and she went with Hope Spooner, Jo Davies-Colley, Peter Mayall, Charlotte FitzPatrick and Aksel Bech as her top five from the Cambridge News. Only Mayall, and potentially Spooner, missed out on election.
Liam Bullen
And in Te Awamutu she chose Liam Bullen, who was elected to the community board.
Digital marketing expert Josh Moore chose Clare St Pierre, Garry Reymer, Barry Quayle and Crystal Beavis portraits as his best. Three of the four got in. In King Country, Cornege went for Liz Stolwyk’s portrait.
Despite strong efforts by Māori ward candidates – Dale-Maree Morgan and Yvonne Waho – nearly 7000 voters opted to remove the ward from 2028.
Morgan was re-elected and will serve a final term. She and husband Steve Hutt have also been elected onto the Ngāruawāhia Community Board.
Dale-Maree Morgan and husband Steve Hutt
Sources tell us there was quite the party going on in Gillies Street on Saturday night where Mike Pettit hosted friends, family and supporters. Our own Viv Posselt left at a respectable hour – she had copy to file for our online platforms. Among the glitterati were Tauranga mayor Mahé Drysdale and former mayor Jim Mylchreest.
Mike Pettit flanked by former Waipa mayor Jim Mylcheest and Tauranga mayor Mahe Drysdale.
A big high five to Waipā District Council staff for their Saturday morning efforts to get people voting.
In both Te Awamutu and Cambridge, they donned sandwich boards, orange high-vis, and wheeled orange bins around to collect last-minute votes before polling closed at noon.
The News saw many young families, including newcomers to the district, making the effort.
Waipa local election day 2025 – Waipa staffers, from left: Sarah Noble, Bev Taylor, Matt Gould encouraging people to vote. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Rides on diggers featured at Hamilton City Council’s recent In your Neighbourhood open day. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
We saw the same commitment from Hamilton City Council staff a fortnight ago in Garden Place, where they partnered with Your Neighbourhood to highlight the importance of councils in our lives.
They were helped by a false fire alarm at Centre Place, which sent shoppers spilling into the council display – featuring Neighbourhood Watch, libraries, emergency planning, water, and swimming pools. The crowd favourite? Two diggers where children could move sand from one side of a square to the other.
Brilliant stuff.
Good luck to all our newly-elected representatives – The News has kept copies of your promises, your social media postings and will be keeping a close eye on you all.
And to those who missed out, good on you for putting your names forward. It is never easy to stick your head out of the sand, so well done.
Support for Mike Pettit was strong in Cambridge. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
