Tom Rutherford
Tom Rutherford is a New Zealand politician and communications executive. A member of the National Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament for the Bay of Plenty since October 2023.
Early life
Rutherford was brought up in the Bay of Plenty. Rutherford's mother Sharon Nightingale is the National Party event manager in the Bay of Plenty. Before entering politics, Rutherford was a communications executive, and had worked for mayor and former National Party candidate Tania Tapsell at Rotorua Lakes Council. In 2013, he was selected as a Youth MP by Brendan Horan. Rutherford is also a Hockey New Zealand umpire, having officiated in 14 nationally tracked tournaments since 2017. Rutherford is also a volunteer firefighter, a rugby referee and captained the Greerton Cricket Club.Political career
Rutherford was shortlisted for the National Party candidacy in the 2022 2022 [Tauranga by-election|Tauranga by-election], held after the resignation of Simon Bridges, but lost out to Sam Uffindell.Rutherford was selected by the National Party to contest the electorate at the. He was 70th on the party list. Rutherford was the youngest National Party candidate in 2023, but said he was mentored by Tony Ryall, who was also 26 when he was elected to represent Bay of Plenty. On election night, Rutherford received 23,303 votes, comfortably beating the Labour Party's Pare Taikato on 7,898.
Rutherford was selected to contest the Mt Maunganui electorate, the electorate that replaced, for the.