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Download AudioThe race for the Rotorua mayoralty has gotten crowded, but odds are on there will be a Māori leading the city
Four councillors have so far put their hands up to replace Steve Chadwick – Merepeka Raukawa Tait, Tania Tapsell, Raj Kumar and Reynold Macpherson.
Also in the race are former New Zealand First MP Fletcher Tabuteau and former Olympian Ben Sandford, who was Labour’s candidate for Rotorua in the 2017 general election.
Ms Raukawa Tait is confident of winning.
“I would be going in for my fifth term and I have always polled well. People see me as being comfortable in the boardroom and equally comfortable on the marae. They know that I listen with a willingness to understand,” she says.
Nominations for October’s local body elections close at noon tomorrow.
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