The Labour list MP and spokesperson for agriculture, biosecurity and rural communities said the time had come to return to the city where she had spent all her schooling years after moving from Whakatāne as a child.
‘‘Gizzy has always held a special place in my heart, as do most places we grow up in,’’ Luxton said.
‘‘And now that my kids have grown up and moved out of home, it’s the right time for me to make the move too.’’
As she and her husband Matt, who live in Hinds, prepared to leave, she found herself reflecting on her journey with Labour.
This began when she joined the Ashburton branch of the political party in 2013.
In 2017 she entered Parliament on the Labour party list.
In 2020 she won the Rangitata electorate in a nationwide Labour landslide, turning the traditionally blue electorate red.
‘‘This has been the greatest honour of my career so far,’’ she said.
As dramatic as her win was in 2020, her loss was equally so at the last election in 2023, when newcomer James Meager won by a majority of almost 10,000 votes.
Luxton will now join Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel as Labour’s second MP in the East Coast electorate.
MP for the electorate is National’s Dana Kirkpatrick.
Luxton told The Gisborne Herald she had not ruled out running for the seat in the 2026 election.
“Our party has a process where we will be looking to select candidates for the upcoming election, but I would certainly love to put my name in the ring and be considered when the time comes,” she said.
