John Ormond to contest election seat in Hawke's Bay for 16th time in 165 years

Author: Doug Laing ,
Publish Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2026, 2:27pm

John (Johno) Ormond, Act's candidate for Napier in the 2026 General Election. He's the fourth John Ormond to stand in elections in Hawke's Bay and it's the 16th time the name has appeared on the ballot in 165 years.

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The name John Ormond will appear on General Election ballot papers in Hawke’s Bay for the 16th time in 165 years, with the naming of Act’s 2026 candidate for Napier.

John (Johno) Ormond, the Havelock North-based vice-president of growth at reputedly fast-growing US-based B2B start-up Sagan Passport, was in the latest tranche of candidates named by the party on Tuesday.

Aged 40, with a 16-year-old son also showing the family genes with an interest in debating and the political sphere, he is a great-grandson of Central Hawke’s Bay farming pioneer John Davies Ormond, the MP for Clive in 1861-1881 and Napier in 1884-1890.

Grandfather and farming leader Sir John Davies Wilder Ormond stood unsuccessfully in the Waipawa electorate in 1935 and Napier in 1938, and father John Davies (Johnny) Ormond missed out in six elections after becoming a founding member of Act when the party was formed in 1993.

He stood in Tukituki in the first MMP election in 1996, and again in 1999, 2002, and 2005, and in Napier in 2008 and 2011.

Born and raised in Hawke’s Bay, and going to Hereworth School and Havelock North High School, Johno Ormond holds a BA from the University of Otago, with further English literature papers at Victoria in Wellington.

Ormond worked in parliamentary communications for 2017-2020 National Party and Tukituki MP Lawrence Yule, but says earlier political pretensions varied from being involved during the early days of his father’s campaign in his youth to a role in the Save the Keirunga Oaks campaign in Havelock North in 2019.

Roll on 2026 and, while not seeking a particularly high place on the party list, he says he has joined a “strong” local Act network and intends serving the party as a campaigner and candidate for years to come.

“I’m in for the long haul,” Ormond said.

Yet to learn whether he’s been left to the tactical ploys of electioneering, he is the fourth candidate listed for the race in Napier in the November 7 election, although nominations don’t open until September 7.

The others are sitting first-term MP Katie Nimon (National), former Labour MP Stuart Nash, now standing for New Zealand First, and new Labour hopeful Alex Hedley.

Act was not represented in Napier at the 2014 or 2017 elections and Ormond will be the third different candidate for the party in the electorate in the 2020s.

In March, Act confirmed a second campaign in Tukituki for Rob Douglas, nephew of party founder and former Labour Cabinet minister Sir Roger Douglas, but the Government coalition partner has not yet named a candidate for Wairarapa.

Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter, based in Napier, with more than 50 years in journalism - that’s 17 General Elections.