The final fortnight of New Zealand's 2026 general election campaign descended into chaos for Labour after footage emerged showing the party's Tāmaki Makaurau candidate, Kerrin Leoni, attending a family gathering where Mongrel Mob members were present — wearing her Labour jacket and holding up an election sign. Labour leader Chris Hipkins moved quickly, confirming within hours that Leoni had resigned as a candidate, citing standards he had previously set around campaigning alongside gangs. Her name will nonetheless remain on the ballot.

The episode stings particularly because Hipkins had spent the preceding week condemning other left-wing parties — the Greens and Te Pāti Māori — for their own connections to gang-associated events, giving his political opponents an obvious charge of hypocrisy to level back at him. The scandal has consumed nine precious campaign days, pulling Labour away from its chosen ground of health and cost-of-living policy and onto law and order, an area where polls consistently rate National higher.

A new Post/Freshwater Strategy poll published the same day shows the parties at near-deadlock, with Labour on 28.7% and National on 27.6%, and almost half of voters saying their vote is mainly about stopping a rival coalition. With 62% of respondents saying parties are not being straight with the public, and late-deciding voters holding the balance of power, the scandal could not have arrived at a more damaging moment. Hipkins' handling of the resignation was seen by some commentators as swift and decisive, but critics on all sides questioned whether the damage could be contained before advance voting begins.