Geoff Simmons

2017 general election

In the February 2017 Mount Albert by-election, Simmons stood as a candidate for the Opportunities Party (TOP), founded by Gareth Morgan.^[2][7] He came third, with 623 votes, 4.56% of 13,649 valid votes.^[8]

On 24 May 2017, Gareth Morgan announced that Simmons as the deputy leader of TOP and their candidate in the Wellington Central electorate in the 2017 New Zealand general election.^[9][2] During the 2017 election for Wellington Central held on 23 September, Simmons came fourth place with 2,892 votes.^[10]

TOP revamp and leadership

In December 2017, three months after the election, Morgan resigned as leader and Simmons and two candidates also stepped down from their roles.^[11] In August 2018, TOP appointed Simmons as interim leader until an election of party members could be held to determine a replacement to Morgan. In the ensuing internal leadership election, Simmons contested the position with four other candidates. On 8 December 2018, the party board announced Simmons had been successful.^[12]

During the TOP's party relaunch held in October 2019, Simmons delivered a speech advocating a universal basic income and "breaking the Labour / National duopoly".^[13]

2020 election

In July 2020, Simmons announced that he would contest the Rongotai electorate during the 2020 New Zealand general election.^[14] At the beginning of his campaign for the seat Simmons spelled the name of the electorate incorrectly in his advertising as "Rongatai".^[15]

During the 2020 election held on 17 October, Simmons came fourth place in Rongotai with 2,794 votes.^[16] Based on full results published on 6 November, the TOP party won 43,449 party votes (1.5% of the popular vote).^[17] Following the election results, Simmons and deputy leader Shai Navot emailed members, supporters, and donors, thanking them for their support.^[18]

During the party's first annual general meeting held on 3 November, Simmons resigned as leader of TOP.^[19]

2017 Mount Albert by-election

The following table shows the final results:^[20]

2017 Wellington Central general election

More information 2017 general election: Wellington Central, Notes: ...

2017 general election: Wellington Central[21]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Y Grant Robertson		20,873	49.26	−2.38	16,500	38.29	+14.51
	National	Nicola Willis		10,910	25.75	−4.34	13,156	30.53	−7.01
	Green	James Shaw		6,520	15.39	+2.15	9,198	21.34	−8.16
	Opportunities	Geoff Simmons		2,892	6.82	—	2,538	5.89	—
	NZ First	Andy Foster		797	1.88	+0.37	972	2.26	−1.32
	Independent	Gayaal Iddamalgoda		161	0.38	—
	ACT	Michael Warren		131	0.31	—	330	0.77	+0.07
	Independent	Peter Robinson		71	0.17	−0.11
	Independent	Bob Wessex		19	0.04	—
	Māori Party						225	0.52	−0.25
	Legalise Cannabis						55	0.13	−0.19
	Conservative						29	0.07	−1.44
	United Future New Zealand						28	0.06	−0.24
	Mana						14	0.03	−1.45[a]
	Ban 1080						13	0.03	−0.02
	Outdoors						11	0.03	—
	People's Party						10	0.03	—
	Internet						9	0.02	−1.46[b]
	Democrats						6	0.01	−0.06
Informal votes				194			72
Total valid votes				42,374			43,094
Turnout				43,166	86.56[22]	+2.42
	Labour hold		Majority	9,963	23.51	+1.95

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2020 Rongotai general election

More information 2020 general election: Rongotai, Notes: ...

2020 general election: Rongotai[23]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Y Paul Eagle		25,926	57.11	+5.39	23,878	52.31	+8.05
	Green	Teall Crossen		6,719	14.80	-0.15	10,765	23.58	+5.82
	National	David Patterson		6,447	14.20	−10.86	6,013	13.17	−14.84
	Opportunities	Geoff Simmons		3,387	7.46	+3.37	1,272	2.79	-1.83
	ACT	Nicole McKee		965	2.13	+1.86	1,795	3.93	+3.59
	NZ First	Taylor Arneil		472	1.04	-1.04	883	1.93	-1.71
	New Conservative	Bruce Welsh		431	0.95	+0.40	232	0.51	-0.37
	Integrity	Troy Mihaka		162	0.36	—
	Independent	Don Newt McDonald		110	0.24	—
	Māori Party						201	0.44	-0.06
	Advance NZ						184	0.40	—
	Legalise Cannabis						70	0.15	-0.01
	ONE						45	0.1	—
	Sustainable NZ						27	0.06	—
	Outdoors						21	0.04	+0.01
	Vision NZ						21	0.04	—
	Social Credit						10	0.02	+0.01
	TEA						7	0.015	—
	Heartland						7	0.015	—
Informal votes				779			259
Total valid votes				45,398			45,649
Turnout				45,649	?	?
	Labour hold		Majority	19,207	42.31	+15.65

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