Epsom (New Zealand electorate)

Epsom is a New Zealand electorate in Auckland, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. Since the 2014 general election, Epsom has been represented by David Seymour, the leader of the ACT Party.

Epsom
Single-member general constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Formation	1996
Region	Auckland
Character	Urban and suburban
Term	3 years
Member for Epsom
David Seymour[1] since 20 September 2014
Party	ACT
List MPs	Paul Goldsmith (National) Camilla Belich (Labour) Tanya Unkovich (NZ First) Lawrence Xu-Nan (Green)
Previous MP	John Banks (ACT)
Party vote distribution

Epsom has been an important electorate in New Zealand politics as, since 2005, it has allowed the ACT Party to gain seats in parliament without meeting the five percent party vote threshold as the party leaders David Seymour, John Banks and Rodney Hide have each won the electorate.

Population centres

Epsom is based around central and eastern Auckland isthmus. It contains the suburbs of Parnell, Remuera, Mount Eden, Newmarket, half of Greenlane and the eponymous suburb of Epsom. Under boundary changes resulting from the 2006 census, Epsom was enlarged to include the central city suburb of Grafton, but most of the area was lost again following the 2013 census. It is New Zealand's smallest electorate, covering just 20 km² (8 sq mi).^[2]

Epsom was created ahead of the first Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) election in 1996, carved out of the Remuera and Eden seats. Remuera was a safe seat for the National Party, having never elected a member of parliament from the Labour Party, while Eden was a bellwether seat, changing hands with the change of government. Both of these seats were held by National MPs – Christine Fletcher in Eden and Doug (later Sir Douglas) Graham in Remuera.

The electorate's population is predominantly European New Zealanders with a significant Asian population. The median household income is $118,300 – the highest of all New Zealand electorates.^[2]

History

The Epsom seat was first contested in New Zealand's first MMP election in 1996. The National party candidate was Christine Fletcher; she came out of the election with the nation's biggest personal majority: a 19,000 vote margin over the second placed Labour candidate, Helen Duncan.

With Fletcher standing down at the 1999 election to focus on her role as the newly elected Mayor of Auckland, the electorate battle was a contest between new National candidate Richard Worth and ACT List MP Rodney Hide. Worth won the seat by approximately 1,900 votes. In 2002, he easily retained Epsom, with other parties contesting only the party vote.

The 2005 race for Epsom was won by Rodney Hide^[3] after a tough contest for the personal vote. As the leader of ACT, Hide was determined to contest Epsom in order to guarantee his party's representation in the next parliament, should ACT not break the five percent threshold – under New Zealand electoral law, a party can gain representation by either getting five percent of the vote or by winning one or more electoral seats.

As it became more likely ACT would not break five percent, the campaign in Epsom became more intense, with Hide lobbying voters to vote strategically to keep ACT in Parliament, a message that ultimately prevailed, with National MP Richard Worth, defeated by 3,102 votes on election night and returned to Parliament via the National Party list. Hide's win in Epsom also allowed ACT member Heather Roy to enter parliament.

Hide increased his majority in 2008, and winning Epsom allowed four other ACT MPs to enter parliament. But Hide stepped down as ACT leader in April 2011 after succumbing to a leadership challenge from Don Brash.^[4] The ACT party selected former Auckland Mayor John Banks as their candidate for the 2011 election, who won the contest.^[5]

In 2013, John Banks announced that he would leave Parliament at the 2014 election, and so would not contest the Epsom electorate. After being found guilty at trial for electoral fraud, he announced his resignation effective 13 June 2014, leaving the Epsom seat vacant.^[6] Due to the proximity of the next general election, Parliament voted by supermajority to avoid a by-election.^[7]

Members of Parliament

Key

  National   ACT   Labour   Green

Election	Winner
1996 election		Christine Fletcher
1999 election		Richard Worth
2002 election
2005 election		Rodney Hide
2008 election
2011 election		John Banks
2014 election		David Seymour
2017 election
2020 election
2023 election

List MPs

Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Epsom electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.

Election	Representatives
1998		Helen Duncan[i]
1999 election		Rodney Hide
2002 election		Rodney Hide
		Keith Locke
2005 election		Keith Locke
		Richard Worth
2008 election		Keith Locke
		Richard Worth[ii]
2011 election		Paul Goldsmith
		David Parker
2014 election		Julie Anne Genter
		Paul Goldsmith
2017 election		Paul Goldsmith
		David Parker
2020 election		Paul Goldsmith
		Camilla Belich
2023 election		Paul Goldsmith
		Camilla Belich[iii]
		Tanya Unkovich
2024		Lawrence Xu-Nan[iv]

1. Replaced Jill White as list MP
2. Resigned June 2009, list place taken by Cam Calder
3. Replaced Andrew Little as list MP, who resigned on 5 December 2023
4. Replaced Efeso Collins as list MP, who died on 21 February 2024

Election results

2023 election

2023 general election: Epsom[8]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	ACT	Y David Seymour		17,826	44.43	-2.54	5,041	12.40	+2.04
	National	Paul Goldsmith		9,684	24.14	+8.73	20,948	51.54	+14.27
	Labour	Camilla Belich		6,189	15.42	-9.33	5,945	14.62	-21.25
	Green	Lawrence Xu-Nan		3,537	8.81	+1.34	5,507	13.55	+2.62
	Opportunities	Nina Su		1,803	4.49	+2.35	1,307	3.21	+1.26
	NZ First	Tanya Unkovich		573	1.42	—	1,059	2.60	+1.16
	NZ Loyal	Anna Rotheray		164	0.40	—	123	0.30	—
	Te Pāti Māori						299	0.73	+0.48
	NewZeal						76	0.18	−+0.12
	Legalise Cannabis						66	0.16	—
	Freedoms NZ						34	0.08	—
	New Conservatives						28	0.06	-0.44
	Women's Rights						26	0.06	—
	DemocracyNZ						16	0.03	—
	New Nation						5	0.01	—
	Leighton Baker Party						2	0.00	—
Informal votes				339			109
Total valid votes				40,115			40,637
	ACT hold		Majority	8,142	20.29	-1.93

2020 election

2020 general election: Epsom[9]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	ACT	Y David Seymour		19,500	46.97	+3.80	4,355	10.36	+8.58
	Labour	Camilla Belich		10,276	24.75	+6.26	15,078	35.87	+11.32
	National	Paul Goldsmith		6,397	15.41	−13.32	15,668	37.27	−21.37
	Green	Kyle MacDonald		3,101	7.47	+0.19	4,596	10.93	+2.56
	Opportunities	Adriana Christie		889	2.14	—	822	1.95	+1.75
	TEA	Noel Jiang		337	0.81	—	112	0.26	—
	New Conservative	Norman Sutton		231	0.79	+0.19	211	0.50	+0.30
	Advance NZ	Faith-Joy Aaron		166	0.39	—	147	0.34	—
	Sustainable NZ	Shannon Withers		72	0.17	—	30	0.07	—
	Outdoors	Maia Prochazka		31	0.07	—	7	0.01	−0.19
	Not A Party	Finn Harris		24	0.05	—
	NZ First						609	1.44	−1.71
	Māori Party						108	0.25	−0.07
	Legalise Cannabis						38	0.08	−0.02
	ONE						27	0.06	—
	Social Credit						8	0.01	—
	Vision NZ						8	0.01	—
	Heartland						6	0.01	—
Informal votes				484			203
Total valid votes				41,508			42,031
Turnout				42,311	82.84[10]	+3.17
	ACT hold		Majority	9,224	22.22	+7.78

2017 election

2017 general election: Epsom[11]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	ACT	Y David Seymour		16,505	43.17	+0.09	696	1.78	−0.94
	National	Paul Goldsmith		10,986	28.73	−2.87	22,875	58.64	−4.41
	Labour	David Parker		7,067	18.49	+9.13	9,575	24.55	+11.16
	Green	Barry Coates		2,785	7.28	−0.87	3,263	8.37	−4.13
	NZ First	Julian Paul		657	1.72	+0.22	1,229	3.15	−0.32
	Conservative	Leighton Baker		230	0.60	−4.05	80	0.20	−2.27
	Opportunities						1,043	2.67	—
	Māori Party						124	0.32	−0.14
	Legalise Cannabis						38	0.10	−0.10
	People's Party						34	0.09	—
	United Future						24	0.06	−0.10
	Ban 1080						9	0.02	0.00
	Democrats						7	0.02	−0.01
	Outdoors						7	0.02	—
	Internet						6	0.02	−0.81[a]
	Mana Party						6	0.02	−0.81[b]
Informal votes				317			76
Total valid votes				38,230			39,008
Turnout				39,422	79.67[12]	+1.58
	ACT hold		Majority	5,519	14.44	+3.16

2014 election

2014 general election: Epsom[13]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	ACT	David Seymour		15,966	43.08	−1.02	1,023	2.72	+0.17
	National	Paul Goldsmith		11,716	31.61	−6.19	23,904	63.45	−1.07
	Labour	Michael Wood		3,470	9.36	−1.09	5,045	13.39	−2.16
	Green	Julie Anne Genter		3,021	8.15	+2.14	4,706	12.49	+0.46
	Conservative	Christine Rankin		1,725	4.65	+3.70	932	2.47	+1.35
	NZ First	Cliff Lyon		621	1.68	+1.68	1,308	3.47	+0.86
	Mana	Patrick O'Dea		106	0.29	+0.11
	Independent	Grace Haden		59	0.16	+0.16
	Independent	Matthew Goode		37	0.10	−0.06
	Independent	Susanna Kruger		31	0.08	+0.08
	Independent	Adam Holland		21	0.06	+0.06
	Internet Mana						312	0.83	+0.67[c]
	Māori Party						174	0.46	−0.13
	Legalise Cannabis						76	0.20	−0.12
	United Future						61	0.16	−0.16
	Civilian						17	0.05	+0.05
	Democrats						10	0.03	+0.01
	Ban 1080						7	0.02	+0.02
	Focus						4	0.01	+0.01
	Independent Coalition						3	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				286			93
Total valid votes				37,059			37,675
Turnout				37,768	78.09	+2.36
	ACT hold		Majority	4,250	11.28	+4.98

2011 election

2011 general election: Epsom[5]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	ACT	John Banks		15,835	44.10	-11.96	939	2.55	-3.67
	National	Paul Goldsmith		13,574	37.80	+15.96	23,725	64.52	+1.93
	Labour	David Parker		3,751	10.45	-3.13	5,716	15.55	-4.54
	Green	David Hay		2,160	6.01	-1.39	4,424	12.03	+5.10
	Conservative	Simon Kan		342	0.95	+0.95	412	1.12	+1.12
	Independent	Penny Bright		124	0.35	+0.35
	Mana	Patrick O'Dea		66	0.18	+0.18	91	0.16	+0.16
	Independent	Matthew Goode		59	0.16	+0.16
	NZ First						959	2.61	+1.16
	Māori Party						217	0.59	+0.01
	Legalise Cannabis						118	0.32	+0.14
	United Future						116	0.32	-0.35
	Libertarianz						31	0.08	+0.03
	Alliance						12	0.03	-0.001
	Democrats						9	0.02	+0.01
Informal votes				443			160
Total valid votes				35,911			36,769
	ACT hold		Majority	2,261	6.30	-27.92

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 48,761^[14]

2008 election

2008 general election: Epsom[15]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	ACT	Y Rodney Hide		21,102	56.06	+13.44	2,389	6.22	+2.83
	National	Richard Worth		8,220	21.84	-12.11	24,030	62.60	+4.09
	Labour	Kate Sutton		5,112	13.58	-3.57	7,711	20.09	-7.14
	Green	Keith Locke		2,787	7.40	+3.18	2,662	6.93	+1.60
	United Future	Janet Tuck		163	0.43	-0.52	258	0.67	-1.07
	Kiwi	Grace Haden		114	0.30	–	80	0.21	–
	RAM	Rafe Copeland		79	0.21	–	27	0.07	–
	Human Rights	Andrena Bishop		68	0.18	+0.09
	NZ First						557	1.45	-0.98
	Māori Party						222	0.58	+0.28
	Progressive						133	0.35	-0.22
	Bill and Ben						120	0.31	–
	Legalise Cannabis						70	0.18	-0.11
	Family Party						67	0.17	–
	Libertarianz						19	0.05	-0.01
	Alliance						13	0.03	+0.00
	Workers Party						13	0.03	–
	Pacific						10	0.03	–
	Democrats						6	0.02	-0.00
	RONZ						2	0.01	+0.00
Informal votes				259			96
Total valid votes				37,645			38,389
	ACT hold		Majority	12,882	34.22	+25.55

2005 election

2005 general election: Epsom[16]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	ACT	Rodney Hide		15,251	42.62		1,237	3.40
	National	N Richard Worth		12,149	33.95		21,310	58.51
	Labour	Stuart Nash		6,138	17.15		9,915	27.22
	Green	Keith Locke		1,513	4.23		1,941	5.33
	United Future	Janet Tuck		340	0.95		636	1.75
	Progressive	Fatima Ashrafi		149	0.42		205	0.56
	Destiny	Rod Gabb		114	0.32		66	0.18
	Direct Democracy	Tin Yau Chan		97	0.27		9	0.02
	Independent	Anthony Van Den Heuvel		34	0.10
	NZ First						887	2.44
	Māori Party						107	0.29
	Christian Heritage						33	0.09
	Legalise Cannabis						25	0.07
	Libertarianz						20	0.05
	Alliance						11	0.03
	99 MP						6	0.02
	Democrats						6	0.02
	Family Rights						3	0.01
	One NZ						3	0.01
	RONZ						1	0.003
Informal votes				245			94
Total valid votes				35,785			36,421
	ACT gain from National		Majority	3,102	8.67

2002 election

2002 general election: Epsom
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Richard Worth		13,563	42.69	+5.86	9,499	29.24	-13.96
	Labour	Di Nash		7,944	25.00		9,328	28.72	+3.37
	ACT	Rodney Hide		7,059	22.22	-8.93	6,652	20.48	+4.08
	Green	Keith Locke		1,831	5.76		2,161	6.65	+0.90
	United Future	Cindy Ruakere		731	2.30		1,857	5.72
	Christian Heritage	Tony Molloy		329	1.04		209	0.64	-0.49
	Alliance	Julie Fairey		317	1.00		332	1.02	-2.33
	NZ First						1,994	6.14	+3.83
	Progressive						254	0.78
	Legalise Cannabis						90	0.28	-0.23
	ORNZ						83	0.26
	One NZ						12	0.04	0.00
	Mana Māori						6	0.02	0.00
	NMP						4	0.01	-0.01
Informal votes				409			72
Total valid votes				31,774			32,481
	National hold		Majority	5,619	17.69	+12.01

1999 election

1999 general election: Epsom[17][18]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Richard Worth		12,362	36.83		14,626	43.20	+2.11
	ACT	Rodney Hide		10,453	31.15		5,551	16.40	-5.64
	Labour	David Jacobs		6,815	20.31		8,583	25.35	+6.19
	Green	Janet McVeagh		1,601	4.77		1,946	5.75
	Alliance	Mark O'Brien		895	2.67		1,133	3.35	-1.10
	Christian Heritage	Ewen McQueen		455	1.36	-0.24[d]	381	1.13
	NZ First	Brent Catchpole		384	1.14		783	2.31	-3.40
	Legalise Cannabis	Caleb Armstrong		287	0.86		171	0.51	-0.67
	McGillicuddy Serious	Worik Turei Stanton		135	0.40		54	0.16	-0.09
	Independent	Michael MacDonald		119	0.35
	Natural Law	Ray Cain		56	0.17		37	0.11	-0.04
	Christian Democrats						229	0.68
	United NZ						191	0.56	-0.69
	Libertarianz						80	0.24	+0.08
	Animals First						43	0.13	-0.02
	One NZ						15	0.04
	Mauri Pacific						8	0.02
	Mana Māori						7	0.02	-0.01
	NMP						7	0.02
	Republican						6	0.02
	South Island						2	0.01
	The People's Choice						1	0.00
	Freedom Movement						0	0.00
Informal votes				470			177
Total valid votes				33,561			33,854
	National hold		Majority	1,908	5.68

1996 election

1996 general election: Epsom[19][20][21]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Christine Fletcher		25,217	69.95		14,870	41.09
	Labour	Helen Duncan		4,575	12.69		6,935	19.16
	Alliance	Mary Tierney		1,787	4.96		1,611	4.45
	NZ First	Gavin Logan		1,342	3.72		2,067	5.71
	ACT	John Boscawen		1,134	3.15		7,976	22.04
	Christian Coalition	Ewen McQueen		577	1.60		1,116	3.08
	Libertarianz	Lindsay Perigo		534	1.48		58	0.16
	Progressive Green	Rob Fenwick		360	1.00		149	0.41
	McGillicuddy Serious	Kerry Hoole		247	0.69		91	0.25
	Green Society	Sam Cunningham		112	0.31		54	0.15
	Natural Law	Bryan Lee		89	0.25		53	0.15
	United NZ	Bryan Mockridge		78	0.22		451	1.25
	Legalise Cannabis						427	1.18
	Ethnic Minority Party						219	0.61
	Animals First						53	0.15
	Advance New Zealand						17	0.05
	Superannuitants & Youth						15	0.04
	Asia Pacific United						11	0.03
	Mana Māori						11	0.03
	Conservatives						8	0.02
	Te Tawharau						0	0.00
Informal votes				232			92
Total valid votes				36,052			36,192
	National win new seat		Majority	20,642	57.26

Footnotes

1. 2017 Internet Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with Mana Party in the 2014 election
2. 2017 Mana Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with the Internet Party in the 2014 election
3. 2014 Internet Mana swing is relative to the votes for Mana in 2011; it shared a party list with Internet in the 2014 election.
4. Percentage change calculated as a candidate for the Christian Coalition Party in the 1996 election