Former Christchurch Mayor Sir Hamish Hay with Queen Elizabeth II. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
In his debut mayoral campaign of 1971, he lost to Neville Pickering. In 1974, it was Sir Hamish Hay. Actually, he lost five times in a row to Hay. <\/p>\n
In 1989, he was beaten by Vicki Buck. Buck would prove more popular than Hansen across three separate elections \u2013 before Garry Moore enjoyed an identical record from 1998 to 2007.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Sir Bob Parker became Hansen\u2019s two-time conqueror.<\/p>\n
Sir Bob Parker on the roof of the City Council building overlooking the city in 2013. Photo \/ Martin Hunter <\/p>\n
In 2013, Lianne Dalziel beat Hansen to the chains and repeated her win in 2016 and 2019. Dalziel stood down at the end of her third term. She remembers Hansen fondly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always a gentleman. He was always polite and good-natured. He never attacked me personally. What\u2019s not to like?\u201d says Dalziel. <\/p>\n
Hansen\u2019s most recent run saw him lose out to incumbent Mayor Phil Mauger. The pair will \u201clock horns\u201d again over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n
Mauger\u2019s 2025 campaign statement claims \u201cas an independent, I focus on what matters: lowering rates increases, fixing roads, upgrading infrastructure and keeping the city running\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hansen is laser-focused on hyper-local. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the frontages in Cheviot St [where he has lived for years] have been set back so that the street can be widened the width of the footpath on both sides and the blind bend on the reserve. When there is a function at the school, cars park both sides of the street, the fire engine and ambulance can\u2019t get through, and the rubbish truck has to reverse and go round twice.\u201d <\/p>\n
In terms of mass appeal, it seems Mauger has a jump start on his more experienced rival.<\/p>\n
Previous campaigns have seen him try a variety of approaches to appeal to voters. In 2016, he opted for total transparency. Perhaps too honest. <\/p>\n
\u201cI will be a take-it-easy, completely obnoxious and sneaky mayor, working between 10am-6pm, accepting no food or drink,\u201d Hansen said.<\/p>\n
Tubby Hansen, from his 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n
He also tapped into the post-quake need for progress. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have a certificate of drawing and design which will help with the rebuild. If old stock cement is used the new buildings will crumble. Cement should be expiry dated.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was also a prediction for central government in the 2017 general election.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Key is certain to be re-elected Prime Minister next year, while Labour faces a landslide defeat, my truck has been sabotaged again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whilst that proved inaccurate, a visit to Hansen\u2019s home confirms his truck is still not in working order. There\u2019s no clue as to who might be responsible.<\/p>\n
Tubby’s truck isn’t going anywhere. Photo \/ Mike Thorpe<\/p>\n
His 2007 campaign statement was conspiracy-themed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe use of an offensive tingle ray at meetings, and looking inside candidates houses and stinging them on the head with cellphone-lasers is disgracefull [sic].\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2019, he zeroed in on the housing market.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fairest way to stop house prices rising is to restrict house prices to government valuation, which is every five years, and a 1\/5 increase only allowed compounding in the time between valuations,\u201d Hansen said.<\/p>\n
In the past, he\u2019s run on the \u201cEconomic Euthenics\u201d banner, as a \u201cprogressive nudist\u201d and has issues with \u201cEnglish spies\u201d, something called \u201cmasers\u201d and special rays that listen to people\u2019s conversations inside their homes.<\/p>\n
Asked about any memorable public meetings that they both attended during their three campaigns, Dalziel directs me to a Facebook video montage of Hansen at a mayoral election forum. It\u2019s branded as Hansen\u2019s \u201chighlights\u201d and despite the questions and candidate comments being edited out before Hansen\u2019s answers, you get the feeling that they\u2019d have offered little context anyway. Still, he has plenty to say and does so with absolute confidence, including \u201cinfrared, ultrasonic microphones\u201d and saying that all beggars should be taken to the local psychiatric hospital where they could be kept warm and cosy.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t enough to sway voters; he finished last that year. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the repetitive election losses that Hansen has sustained \u2013 it\u2019s the manner of them. Frequently lapped by blank voting slips and often defeated by invalid votes, such as forms with a line through them.<\/p>\n
He has finished last in seven of the past nine elections. In 2022, he finished second to last – ahead of Stephen Jelley from \u201cStop The Stadium\u201d. They were both more than 50,000 votes behind both the winner and runner-up.<\/p>\n
Christchurch mayoral candidate Tubby Hansen.<\/p>\n
In 2016, he finished a commendable third with a staggering 1414 votes. Admittedly, there were only three candidates that year. Dalziel beat him by more than 74,000 votes. John Minto was a distant but clear second.<\/p>\n
Other notable campaigns include 2010 \u2013 the great Bob Parker v Jim Anderton \u201cseismic shift\u201d election. He finished second to last with 170 votes \u2013 but dwarfed the 58 votes received by Paulus Telfer. Invalid votes shaded them both with 184.<\/p>\n
In 2007, he finished behind the entire field with 228 votes. Ahead of him was Kyle Chapman of National Front infamy. \u201cInformal\u201d finished one vote ahead of Hansen as well. <\/p>\n
In 2004, he managed 372 votes \u2013 placing him in the top ten. The nine other candidates included current councillors Jamie Gough and Aaron Keown.<\/p>\n
In 1998 and 2001, he picked up 0.18% of the vote. That\u2019s roughly one in every 555 voters.<\/p>\n
The thick, suffocating air of hopelessness that each of those campaigns has carried leads some to ask if he should be permitted to run at all. What\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n
Mauger defends Hansen\u2019s right to seek office.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemocracy is a great thing. It means anyone can stand for elected office and that is something we should celebrate. What I would really love to see this election is Christchurch having the highest voter turnout of any city in the country,\u201d Mauger said.<\/p>\n
Former Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Dalziel is also a believer in Hansen\u2019s freedom to stand. <\/p>\n
\u201cWho decides that he shouldn\u2019t be allowed to run? The heart of democracy surely is that he can if he chooses to do so?\u201d Dalziel said.<\/p>\n
Mauger, like Hansen, is in election mode \u2013 though he\u2019s easier to find.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are on a roll as a city with so much momentum. I have a lot more I want to get on with, so I really hope people get out, have their say and vote,\u201d Mauger said.<\/p>\n
The unmistakeable home of Christchurch Mayoral candidate, Tubby Hansen. Photo \/ Mike Thorpe<\/p>\n
Hansen\u2019s home is quiet when I knock at his door. A voice behind me says, \u201che\u2019s not home\u201d.<\/p>\n
The desperately narrow street (as Tubby accurately described in his candidate statement) with the loudly painted house has been home to Hansen for as long as anyone I speak to can remember.<\/p>\n
One neighbour says he is \u201ceccentric\u201d and knows \u201ceverything\u201d about the area. They tell me that he recently painted a row of fence posts in his front yard before grabbing a chair to sit and watch them dry. The neighbour\u2019s face also lights up when they speak of Hansen. He seems to be well-liked here \u2013 but he\u2019ll need more than a street full of votes to realise his impossible dream.<\/p>\n
A dream that started more than 50 years ago and ends with Hansen occupying the top floor of the Christchurch City Council building. Eventually. If not \u2013 there\u2019s always next year\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n
Mike Thorpe is a senior journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Christchurch Mayor Sir Hamish Hay with Queen Elizabeth II. Photo \/ Supplied In his debut mayoral campaign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[27951,836,19956,4487,16426,2842,2082,27949,78,21168,21942,5494,3025,111,43,139,69,13491,7798,27950,2044,27948,2963],"class_list":["post-28211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-19th","tag-836","tag-candidate","tag-christchurch","tag-christopher","tag-experienced","tag-for","tag-hansen","tag-in","tag-mayoral","tag-mayoralty","tag-michael","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-probably","tag-race","tag-seeks","tag-time","tag-tubby","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}