| Blair Cameron | |
| Party: | National |
Blair Cameron is a New Zealand researcher and politician. Shown as the winner of the electorate at the based on preliminary results, the final results gave the incumbent a narrow lead of 26 votes.
Cameron grew up in rural Canterbury outside Methven, where his mother was a schoolteacher and his father was a barman at the working men's club.[1] Cameron was schooled in Highbank, and at Mount Hutt College. At the age of sixteen, he was awarded a scholarship to study at Li Po Chun United World College.[2] He gained a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Brown University in the United States before working as a senior research specialist at Princeton University.[3] Cameron has worked as a research officer for the International Monetary Fund’s legal department and as a consultant for the World Bank.[4] His work for the World Bank involved researching how governments could be made less corrupt. He returned to New Zealand in 2020 for a friend's wedding, and decided to stay. His mother had moved to Nelson and so he settled there.[5]
Cameron was selected by the National Party to contest the electorate at the . He was 35th on the party list.[6] Preliminary results showed him beating incumbent Labour Party MP Rachel Boyack by 54 votes.[7] He identified Nelson infrastructure and health services as areas he would prioritise. He is concerned about the state of Nelson hospital, which he says "might fall down if we have a decent sized earthquake". Cameron and the National Party health spokesperson Shane Reti have said rebuilding Nelson hospital is a top priority, although Boyack alleges National Party leader Christopher Luxon has not committed to it.[8]
Following the release of final results on 3 November, Cameron's election night victory was overturned, with Boyack winning by a narrow margin of 29 votes. In response, the National Party sought a judicial recount in the Nelson electorate on 8 November.[9] [10] On 10 November, the Electoral Commission confirmed that Boyack had won Nelson by a margin of 26 votes, three votes fewer than the final vote results.[11]
Cameron enjoys kayaking, tramping, rugby and racing.