Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown to announce plans for second term on Wednesday

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is set to announce plans for a second term on Wednesday.

Sources have confirmed the mayor will make an announcement at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in the afternoon.

This follows news that his campaign team has re-registered the domain name ‘fixauckland.co.nz’.

The mayor potentially faces a challenge from his deputy, Desley Simpson, after the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance revealed on January 30 that the domain “Desleyformayor.co.nz” was registered by her son this year.

Simpson, the councillor for Ōrākei, told the Herald on her return from an overseas holiday the domain was “a bit of a laugh”, but did not rule out standing.

She confirmed she had been thinking about running for mayor, but it was “a bit soon” for a decision.

A few days later, the pair had a “catch-up” but said little about what was discussed.

“We are focused on fixing Auckland,” said the mayor following the meeting.

Brown swept to power in October 2022 after beating the Labour-endorsed candidate Efeso Collins by more than 50,000 votes.

Whau councillor Kerrin Leoni, a Labour Party member, has announced she wants to be the first Māori mayor of Tāmaki Makaurau.

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.