• Graham Bloxham says he’s sold the Wellington LIVE social media page and is entering the race to become mayor of Wellington.
• Bloxham describes himself as an “independent centre left” candidate focused on community, transparency, and affordability.
• He joins Tory Whanau, Ray Chung, and Kelvin Hastie in the bid to be Wellington mayor.

The man behind popular Facebook page Wellington LIVE says he’s sold the page and is running for mayor in this year’s local body elections.

Graham Bloxham told the Herald he recently sold the social media page to One Network Group, which he describes as a Wellington media organisation.

He would not be drawn on details of the sale or his future involvement, saying he is in a “contract phase of the deal” and hopes to continue working for the group.

“I’ve decided to run for the exciting and fantastic role of the mayor of Wellington - of our stunning harbour capita l.. I am actually super excited and positive. I can talk to anyone and won’t back down from bullying or hate/abuse. NO WAY [sic]”, Bloxham sent in a message.

Graham Bloxham says he will run for the city's top job as an independent centre left candidate. Photo / Linkedin

He said he is not a current owner or director of One Network Group and would not comment on who the new operator of the Facebook page is.

Bloxham’s LinkedIn page states he is content creator for One Network group.

Part of the reason he decided to sell the page he said was because of constant social media attacks from “ruthless” haters.

“In the end it was quite tough”.

The community Facebook page, which currently has 253,000 followers, started as a live updates page during flooding in the capital in 2015. It was sold to Bloxham in 2021.

It has faced some criticism in the years since, including accusations of spreading misinformation.

One such incident followed the Loafers Lodge fire, when Wellington LIVE posted that Michael Wahrlich, a well-known street personality also known as Mike the Juggler, had survived the blaze.

It was later confirmed Wahrlich died in the fire.

Bloxham said he has long intended to run for Mayor.

“I’ve always loved politics and I love this city, I’ve had speeding tickets, parking tickets, all sorts of things, I’ve lived and loved in this city,” he said.

“Wellington is emotionally bankrupt it’s emotionally broken, it’s emotionally hurt and it hasn’t recovered from Covid.”

Bloxham said he would also be running for a council seat in the Motukairangi/Eastern Ward.

He described himself as an “independent centre left” candidate but would engage with people from all sides of politics.

“I would talk to Julie-Anne Genter of course, I love her she’s awesome, she rides bikes [...] we’ll talk to anyone, Chippy out in the Hutt Valley or Nicola the bean-counter for National.”

He said he would run on a platform of “local, community, transparency, and affordability”.

Bloxham joins current Wellington City Councillor Ray Chung and Mayor Tory Whanau in the race for the top job.

Predator-free champion Kelvin Hastie has also confirmed his candidacy.

Whanau has always maintained she wants another term as mayor, although she appeared to waver in that thought in an interview with Newstalk ZB last year, saying she’d be having conversations with family and friends when the time came.

Questions have also been raised about whether former Wellington mayor Justin Lester intends to run for the city’s top job again, with the launch of a new Facebook page Wellington Alive.

He says while he doesn’t intend to run, Labour has approached him about his potential candidacy and he’d “never say never”.

Ethan Manera is a multimedia journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 and is interested in local issues, politics and property in the capital. Ethan is always on the lookout for a story and can be emailed at [email protected].