2025 Wellington mayoral election

The 2025 Wellington mayoral election was a local election held from 9 September to 11 October in Wellington, New Zealand, as part of that year's city council election and nation-wide local elections. Voters elected the mayor of Wellington for the 2025–2028 term of the Wellington City Council. Postal voting and the single transferable vote system were used.

The incumbent mayor Tory Whanau did not run for a second term as mayor, instead running for council in the Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori ward.

Former Labour leader Andrew Little won the mayoralty in a landslide.

The timeline of electoral events were:

• Friday 4 July – Candidate nominations open, roll opens for public inspection
• Friday 1 August – Nominations close at midday, electoral roll closes
• Tuesday 9 September – Ballots posted out, voting opens
• Saturday 11 October – Voting closes at midday
• Saturday 11 October – Preliminary results released
• Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 October – Final results declared

Incumbent mayor Tory Whanau had announced she would run for a second term, but later changed her mind after Andrew Little entered the race. Ray Chung would contest the election as the candidate from the Independent Together group.

Other candidates looking to contest the mayoralty include business owner Karl Tiefenbacher, former Wellington LIVE media owner Graham Bloxham, conservationist Kelvin Hastie, former city councillor Rob Goulden, and former chartered accountant Alex Baker.

A campaign parodying Independent Together was launched in June 2025, featuring "Pennywize the Rewilding Clown" for mayor, with a campaign website that closely parodied that of the Independent Together website. The parody played on the character from Stephen King's horror franchise It.

In late July, Bloxham announced that he was withdrawing from the race citing personal attacks.

In December 2025, The New Zealand Herald reported that Little had spent NZ$58,990.26 on his mayoral campaign, with the funds mainly going into signs, Facebook advertising and flyers. In terms of donations, Little received NZ$2,000 from former National Party MP Chris Finlayson, $2,500 from former Labour MP and diplomat Annette King and her husband, $5,000 from multimillionaire developer Ian Cassels of the Wellington Company, and $2,500 from former city councillor and art patron Chris Parkin. The Maritime Union of New Zealand, Amalgamated Workers Union, E tū, and Dairy Workers Union each donated $5,000 to Little's campaign. In addition, former Wellington Mayor Justin Lester and the Labour Party raised $2,075 and $1,634.15 for Little through fundraising dinners.

Ray Chung received between NZ$150,000 and 200,000 in donations through his electoral ticket Independent Together. These donations included NZ$10,000 from heritage advocate Felicity Wong, NZ$5,000 from investment management company The Thorndon Group, $27,542.17 from Independent Together's parent organisation Better Wellington, and $20,000 from philanthropist Mark Dunajtschik (who subsequently rescinded his support for Chung following media coverage about his remarks of incumbent mayor Tory Whanau). Wellington councillor and mayoral candidate Karl Tiefenbacher received $50,617 worth in campaign donations while fellow councillor Diane Calvert spent $16,000 on her campaign.

• John Apanowicz, councillor for the Northern ward since 2022

• Justin Lester, former mayor (2016–19)

• Jill Day, President of the Labour Party and former deputy mayor

• Fleur Fitzsimons, unionist and former Wellington City Councillor for Southern Ward

• Thomas Nash, regional councillor since 2019 (endorsed Whanau)

• David Parker, former Labour Party deputy leader and cabinet minister

• Luke Pierson, founding member of the Vision for Wellington lobby group

• Nicola Young, councillor for the Lambton ward since 2013 (endorsed Little)

• Tory Whanau, mayor since 2022 (endorsed Little)

• Graham Bloxham, owner of Wellington Live Facebook page

Former Labour leader Andrew Little won the mayoralty in a landslide. Businessman Karl Tiefenbacher came in second, with councillor Ray Chung in third place.