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Dear John, What a great result for the people of Hamilton West, and for National, in the Hamilton West by-election yesterday. National’s candidate, Tama Potaka, overturned Labour’s 6,267 majority that Gaurav Sharma held from the 2020 election, so Tama will enter Parliament as National’s newest MP, bringing our caucus to 34 members. Results from election night put Tama on 6629 votes - 2285 ahead of Labour's Georgie Dansey. Apart from Tama’s personal credentials and National’s strong campaign focussing on the things that matter to the people of Hamilton and New Zealand at large, the result shows New Zealanders want to send a message to Labour. Labour is out of touch. It’s busy in Parliament with ideological pet projects like Three Waters, the TVNZ/RNZ merger, health bureaucracy and hate speech. Meanwhile, out in the streets and farms of real New Zealand, people are talking about the cost of groceries, fear of crime, and how long it takes to see a doctor. I visited Hamilton West with Tama a few times. People I talked to were deeply concerned by the cost-of-living crisis which is affecting their households and families. They were worried by the Labour Government’s soft-on-crime approach which has emboldened young offenders and gangs. National has a plan to ease the cost-of living crisis and it’s National that has plans to tackle gangs and combat youth offending. New Zealanders will do better under National. Thank you to the people of Hamilton West for putting your faith in Tama and in National. We won’t let you down. Thank you to all of you who contributed in some way to the campaign. It involved a huge amount of planning, organisation and sheer hard work. Every phone call to voters, every sign erected, every door knocked on and every leaflet in a letterbox contributed to Tama’s success. It was good practice for next year! It was also a reminder that campaigns are costly. To win in 2023, National will need a deep campaign chest. The party and I would be grateful for your support with a donation. You can donate here: https://www.national.org.nz/donate There’s an enormous amount of work to do to shift more voters to National before next year’s General Election. However, the by-election result is a great boost ahead of the final couple of days of Parliament, and is an encouraging backdrop with which to start 2023. Thank you so much for your ongoing support. |
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