Tauranga voters will soon have their say on who represents them in Wellington until the General Election next year, with the Prime Minister announcing the city's MP by-election will be in mid-June.

Announced Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the by-election will be held on Saturday, June 18, with Writ Day Wednesday, May 11.

'The deadline for candidate nominations to be received will be midday Tuesday, May 17, and the last day for the return of the Writ will be Sunday, July 10,” says the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, back in Tauranga, candidates keep putting their hands up for the job – left vacant by National MP Simon Bridges, who this week announced his resignation will take effect at 5pm May 6.

Labour list MP for Tauranga, Jan Tinetti, has now officially confirmed she will run. She ran for the Tauranga seat in 2020 General Election and placed second, only 1856 votes behind Bridges.

The Act Party has selected its by-election candidate, putting their faith in Cameron Luxton. A past farmer and owner of a building company, Cameron went head-to-head with Simon Bridges and Labour's Jan Tinetti and five other candidates in the 2020 General Election.

Another to put their hat in the ring is Christopher Coker, who has been selected as the candidate for The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.

Christopher, a well-known cannabis advocate in the Bay of Plenty, is a 44-year-old family man working in the hemp industry with a particular interest in the hemp housing sector. The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party's aim is to continue the korero on cannabis law reform.

Labour's Jan, Act's Cameron, and ALCP's Christopher will run against already-confirmed candidates Tauranga City Councillor Andrew Hollis and past by-election candidate Peter Wakeman.

The Prime Minister has been reported by other media outlets saying she doesn't think Labour will win the Tauranga by-election. From the moment of Bridges' shock resignation, The Prime Minster has openly stated that Labour has not won the seat since 1935.

National or one of its predecessor parties Reform have largely held the seat since it was re-established in 1908. Labour enjoyed a landslide victory in 1935 to win the seat for one term – and from 1993 to 2005, it was held by Winston Peters as leader of NZ First. Winston, as of print time, has declined to comment publicly on if he might stand again.

Meanwhile, the National Party has its nominations for the electorate open from Tuesday, March 29, to close midday Wednesday, April 13.

National Party President Peter Goodfellow says once candidate nominations close, nominees will go through several ‘meet the candidates' meetings across the Electorate during late-April before a final selection meeting is held on Sunday, May 1.

'National is proud of our democratic selection process, so ultimately it will be up to local Tauranga Party members to decide who will be our National candidate in the by-election,” says Peter.

One person thought likely to become the National Party's candidate has already ruled herself out of the race.

The widely-tipped Tania Tapsell, aged 30, has removed herself from the conversation after telling ‘The AM Show' she won't be switching cities in the Bay of Plenty. 'I have been very humbled by how many times my name has been suggested, but I'll be very honest with you; I'm a Rotorua Lakes councillor based in Rotorua.

'There will be a selection process and I wish them all the best, but it won't be me.”