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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says having the Greens join the Northcote by-election won't upset Labour's plans for the race.
Labour's Shanan Halbert has a tough fight for the seat on Auckland's North Shore against National's Dan Bidois.
At the last election Mr Halbert cut former health minister Jonathan Coleman's majority to 6200 votes, and Green candidate Rebekah Jaung took just over 2400 votes.
Ms Ardern says there is no doubt Labour is the underdog, but it takes all by-elections seriously, as do the Greens.
"They obviously stood in the by-election I ran in in Mount Albert and have done fairly consistently so that's not a surprise, but for the individuals of Northcote i don't think they necessarily go in to vote thinking it's a referendum on the Government. They go in to vote to determine who they want to represent them. But we will be making sure to let people know we have a wonderful candidate," she says.
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson says the local branch was keen to stand in the June 9 by-election and use the campaign to celebrate the Green wins in government to date, while advocating for greater progressive change on issues like health, housing, water and transport.
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