{"id":394003,"date":"2026-04-23T16:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/394003\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:32:17","slug":"election-2026-rotorua-lakes-councillor-fisher-wang-enters-mp-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/394003\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: Rotorua Lakes councillor Fisher Wang enters MP race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wang was just 8 years old the last time Rotorua had a Labour MP.<\/p>\n

In 2019, as a 19-year-old, he went from working at McDonald\u2019s to becoming Rotorua\u2019s youngest-ever councillor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was decisively re-elected in 2022 and 2025.<\/p>\n

Wang told Local Democracy Reporting he was confident he could run another successful campaign.<\/p>\n

He said he would continue his duties as a councillor during the campaign, but would step down from local politics should he be successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m no stranger to multitasking and balancing multiple roles,\u201d said Wang, who is also a Rotorua Trust trustee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI plan to continue to commit to the job that our community voted me into, which is to work as a councillor for the district.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FisherFisher Wang was Rotorua’s youngest ever councillor when he was elected in 2019, aged 19. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

He said he was ready for the challenge and the extra scrutiny that comes with a general election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI make sure I critique myself first because I know not everyone will agree with me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Wang said he believes New Zealanders have had enough of \u201cidentity politics\u201d and that he was ready to stop the finger-pointing and avoid constant party-dependent policy swings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I\u2019m naive as a new candidate. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut after six years on council, I know it\u2019s important to have consensus on major issues like health, education and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\" Rotorua Lakes Councillor Fisher Wang at a June 2025 meeting. Photo \/ Laura Smith<\/p>\n

\u201cConstant pendulum swings have been detrimental to productivity, progress and efficiency, and it has cost money we don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wang said he believed Rotorua needed a stronger voice in Wellington on long-term infrastructure planning as the district grew.<\/p>\n

He pointed to transport pressures and housing development as key challenges, arguing short-term political cycles had made it harder to deliver sustained investment in regional infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Wang said he had previously been a member of different political parties \u2013 most recently The Opportunities Party. <\/p>\n

He said Labour\u2019s current policies align with his thinking \u2013 particularly its Future Fund and Medicard policies.<\/p>\n

\"Then-JohnThen-John Paul College students Alex Sharples (from left), Fisher Wang and Mikusha Newdick with Jacinda Ardern in 2017. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Wang supported his \u201cgreat friend\u201d and Rotorua Mayor, Tania Tapsell, when she ran for the National Party\u2019s East Coast seat<\/a> in 2020, but he said that was a \u201cpersonal\u201d show of support. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more to a person than just whatever party banner they run under. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur relationship is based on friendship, and that\u2019s what I supported her on.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he had received messages of support from fellow councillors after telling them of his decision at Wednesday\u2019s council meeting.<\/p>\n

Tapsell said she was \u201cnot surprised\u201d to see Wang gunning for national politics. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely delighted for Fisher.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been an incredible councillor, and we\u2019ve had the privilege of watching him grow from a local leader to someone who\u2019s also had great influence around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FisherFisher Wang and Tania Tapsell in 2019. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

She said she had offered Wang advice and she was \u201cconfident\u201d in his ability to continue in his councillor role while campaigning. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be quite a challenge for him to take on a very experienced and astute MP and minister in Todd. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut what is positive is that we have such great options available for us in Rotorua.\u201d<\/p>\n

McClay has been unanimously reselected as National\u2019s Rotorua candidate, a Wednesday statement from its Rotorua Electorate Committee chairman Conan O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

\u201cServing Rotorua, Te Puke, and the rural areas between is a privilege,\u201d McClay said in the statement.<\/p>\n

\"RotoruaRotorua MP and Trade Minister Todd McClay, with New Zealand\u2019s chief trade negotiator Vangelis Vitalis (left), has been unanimously reselected as National\u2019s Rotorua candidate. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of the progress we\u2019ve made together, from reducing motel emergency housing to supporting tourism and securing trade gains, and I\u2019m committed to continuing that work for the people of Rotorua and Te Puke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wang was nearly joined by another Rotorua councillor on the campaign trail, as Raj Kumar flirted with the idea of running for NZ First selection.<\/p>\n

The Rotorua constituency Bay of Plenty regional councillor said he ultimately decided to back McClay\u2019s re-election campaign.<\/p>\n

Candidate nominations open on September 7 and close on October 8, with election day on November 7.<\/p>\n

Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.<\/p>\n

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wang was just 8 years old the last time Rotorua had a Labour MP. In 2019, as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2246,1558,19956,38290,39881,5903,7797,28167,36090,42,203515,5365,440,6368,43,4517,7798,1327,40,38,41,39,27164],"class_list":{"0":"post-394003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-2246","9":"tag-been","10":"tag-candidate","11":"tag-councillor","12":"tag-districts","13":"tag-election","14":"tag-elections","15":"tag-enters","16":"tag-fisher","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-highestpolling","19":"tag-lakes","20":"tag-local","21":"tag-mp","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-past","24":"tag-race","25":"tag-rotorua","26":"tag-top-news","27":"tag-top-stories","28":"tag-topnews","29":"tag-topstories","30":"tag-wang"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394003","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=394003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}