Steph Lewis

Lewis grew up in Whanganui and Waverley. She attended Whanganui City College and Victoria University of Wellington, where she studied law.^[4] In 2004 she was a member of the New Zealand Youth Parliament, selected to represent Whanganui MP Jill Pettis.^[5]

Lewis worked at the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) where she also became a trade union delegate. She later worked for the Privacy Commissioner.^[4] Lewis is married to Rob Carr, who was a senior ministerial adviser to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.^[6][7]

In February 2022, while she was pregnant, Lewis was harassed by anti-COVID vaccine mandate protestors outside Parliament, who threatened to lynch and kidnap her.^[8]

Lewis won the Labour Party nomination for Whanganui in 2017 ahead of district councillor Philippa Baker-Hogan and moved from Wellington back to Whanganui to campaign full time.^[9] Lewis was re-selected as Labour's candidate for Whanganui in the 2020 election. She was elected a week before Labour's annual conference, which was held in Whanganui for the first time in the party's history.^[10]

Early returns in the 2020 general election placed her ahead of incumbent National Party MP Harete Hipango,^[11] and she was declared the winner on 18 October 2020 with a majority of approximately 6,800 votes based on preliminary results.^[12][13] Following the release of the final results on 6 November, Lewis' majority increased to 8,191 votes.^[14]

During the 2023 New Zealand general election, Lewis was unseated by National candidate Carl Bates, who won by a margin of 5,512 votes.^[15]