Tākuta Ferris confirms independent run for Te Tai Tonga in 2026
Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris has confirmed he will recontest the Māori electorate seat as an independent candidate at the 2026 General Election, formally announcing his candidacy in a statement titled "The Pathway Has Changed" released on Sunday (Scoop).
Ferris announced the bid in a social media video, saying his past 10 months as an independent had "tested us" and that being elected as an independent would give Te Tai Tonga a voice "uncompromised by party politics, accountable only to the people of Te Tai Tonga" (RNZ).
Ferris was expelled from Te Pāti Māori on 10 November 2025, alongside Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. He described the expulsion as "plainly unconstitutional" at the time (NZ Herald). He made his first appearance on Te Karere as the newly independent MP for Te Tai Tonga in late December 2025, two weeks after the expulsion (Te Karere/Facebook), and appeared again on the programme in March 2026 (Te Karere/Facebook).
As recently as March 2026, Ferris had indicated he would remain an independent candidate unless conversations with Te Pāti Māori resulted in his return to the party (The Press). Sunday's announcement closes off that line of speculation with a confirmed independent run.
Ferris said three kaupapa sit at the forefront of his campaign: Te Tiriti, Te Tangata and Te Taiao. He defined these as protecting and enhancing He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti in decision-making, developing and growing the potential of Māori, and protecting te taiao (RNZ).
The field contesting Te Tai Tonga in 2026 is now taking shape. Candidates include Ferris as an independent, Lisa Marie Murch for Te Pāti Māori, Dr Lisa Te Morenga for the Green Party, and Mananui Ramsden (Marae/Facebook). Labour has not yet named a candidate among those listed for Marae's candidate forum.
Te Tai Tonga is Aotearoa's largest electorate by area, covering two islands and a vast stretch of the South Island along with Wellington and parts of the lower North Island (Stuff). That geography makes electorate-level campaigning a logistical undertaking distinct from general seat contests.
Ferris won Te Tai Tonga in 2023 with 12,828 votes, beating Labour's Rino Tirikatene by more than 2,000 votes (RNZ). Tirikatene had held the seat for Labour since 2011. Ferris's victory was part of a sweep that saw Te Pāti Māori win all six Māori seats that cycle.
Under New Zealand's MMP system, parties get seats in Parliament roughly in proportion to their share of the party vote, and candidates can also enter Parliament via a party list — meaning a party-affiliated MP who loses their electorate can still return on the list. An independent candidate has no list to fall back on. The only way into Parliament for an independent is to win an electorate outright. Ferris loses the party-list safety net he had as a Te Pāti Māori MP.
Ferris has previously signalled strategic thinking about the Māori seats' effect on Parliament's overall composition. In November 2025, he urged Labour to show "strategic restraint" in Māori seats to prompt an overhang (NZ Herald). An overhang happens when a party wins more electorate seats than its party vote share would normally entitle it to — the extra seats are added to Parliament beyond the usual 120, giving that party more representation than its party vote alone would deliver.
Whether that overhang strategy remains viable with Ferris now detached from Te Pāti Māori is a question for the campaign. Te Pāti Māori will be contesting Te Tai Tonga with Lisa Marie Murch, meaning the Māori party vote in the electorate will be split between at least some supporters of Ferris and supporters of the party that expelled him. The dynamic is further complicated by the Greens running Dr Lisa Te Morenga, giving left-leaning Māori voters in Te Tai Tonga at least three options.
Ferris has been described as an advocate for Māori independence, a positioning that predates his time in Parliament (NZ Herald). His three-kaupapa framing of Te Tiriti, Te Tangata and Te Taiao is consistent with that record.
The broader context here is the fragmentation of the Māori political landscape heading into 2026. In 2023, Te Pāti Māori won all six Māori seats and Labour won none, a dramatic reversal from 2020 when Labour held all six. The 2026 contest now features a sitting Māori electorate MP running without party backing, a Green Party challenger with a high-profile candidate, and Te Pāti Māori defending seats it won in a wave election under a new leader after the expulsion of two of its MPs. How that fragmentation distributes votes across the Māori roll in Te Tai Tonga will be one of the more closely watched results on election night.
