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Regional | News

Rising political star has sights set on future mayoralty and Beehive

She's only 26, but she topped the votes for the Rotorua Lakes Council Local Body Elections for the second year running.

She is now considering the possibility of running for the top job in the future. Speaking to Te Ao, Tania Tapsell said while it’s not in her immediate plans, she's set her sights on the mayoralty someday.

“The next steps I’ve had a lot of pressure after topping the poles again, and it is something that I’m interested in.”

Tapsell has been on council since she was 21 years old, and her success has drawn the attention of national political parties. “I have been approached by a few people to get into the realm of it,” Tapsell said when asked if she had been approached by any political parties, though she was reluctant to name who, simply stating that they are not any parties currently in Government.

Tapsell did acknowledge that national politics was something that she was interested in.

“It is a goal, in the future, and that goal has come from seeing that there is a gap there. We are doing very well, we have some amazing MP's and Ministers in there at the moment, but I think we could have more of our Māori people, more young people, and more women in there as well, so it's very much a goal of mine to enter into that realm at some stage,” says Tapsell.