Nadine Taylor ‘very grateful’ for second term as Marlborough mayor

Saturday, 11 October 2025

Newly re-elected mayor Nadine Taylor with her husband Graham at her election celebration in Blenheim.

Nadine Taylor has won a second term as Marlborough mayor, with 85% of the votes counted.

Based on progressive results released on Saturday afternoon, Taylor had 11,829 votes, a landslide win over mayoral candidates Shaun Brown, with 735 votes, and Aniva Fruean, with 380 votes.

Taylor said she was “very pleased and very grateful, to be elected back”.

“It’s nice to have that vote of confidence from the province to carry on the work.”

Election officials Nicole Croker and Marianne Aitken take the final votes from the Blenheim council office bin at noon on Saturday.

She was speaking from her mother’s retirement village, and said she always spent election day with her mother.

Taylor said she was looking forward to bringing together a new team of councillors.

“We’ve had a good three years, and I’m really looking forward to bringing the team together to deliver another good three years.

“A refresh of the team, it is always a good thing. It brings a new perspective, makes us look at what we've done previously, and [consider] how we can do better as we move forward.”

Progressive results did not include special votes and votes cast on election day, which would be in transit to the election management company Electionz.com facility in Christchurch.

Marlburians cast 1101 votes on Saturday morning, before voting closed at noon, Marlborough District Council said in a statement.

Electionz takes The Press behind-the-scenes at the busiest vote processing centre in New Zealand

A preliminary count, which would include election day votes, but not special votes, would be posted on Sunday, and a final count would be posted on Thursday next week.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.