Can Craig Renney tame the ‘big Green elephant’ and turn Wellington Bays red?

The useful part

One of the party's most promising candidates faces an uphill battle to claim an electorate split between the centre-left and left of left. Labour Party president Jill Day reckoned the 150 people gathered for a campaign launch at Miramar's Oriental Rongotai Football Club must've been blown in by Sunday's wild winds. The "Ories" are the sporting pride of the newly formed Wellington Bays seat and home club of All Blacks captain Ardie Savea and Black Ferns player Ayesha Leti-I'iga.

How it works

• Another potential winner, Labour's Craig Renney, was front and centre at Sunday's event as a hopeful local MP – shit, he's even been touted as a future finance minister, but he still needs to win this race...
• He then stayed on the sidelines of politics as an economist for the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions before joining Labour's policy team after the 2023 election.
• It was a sea of red at Ories, but not everyone was totally swayed by the red wave.
• One longtime Labour supporter told The Spinoff she likes Green policy, but she plans to back Renney with her candidate vote.
• Another attendee told The Spinoff he had never voted Labour, and he still wasn't sure if he would try it this time.