There were never any points in guessing who would stand for James Shaw’s vacated co-leadership position.   

If bookies were paying odds, Chloe Swarbrick would be paying out about $1.01.  

And for good reason – not only is she the only realistic option, she’s by far the best option for the party.   

She was a little green island during the 2020 red-wave election, winning the previously safe Labour seat of Auckland Central.  

Three years later, she retained the electorate and extended her share of the vote.   

She’s one of the best orators in the House and, aside from Shaw and Marama Davidson, she’s the most well-known Green MP in Parliament.  

In fact, in three of the four 1News polls before last year's election she out-polled both co-leaders in the preferred Prime Minister rankings.  

Now she’s thrown her hat in the ring for co-leader, expect her star to keep rising.   

This will of course be good news for the Green Party.   

Over the next month and a half, Swarbrick will embark on the great green expedition around the country – lobbying various party branches to support her in her co-leadership quest.  

The increased coverage of her crusade will start to see the party’s poll numbers creep up.     

But there are only so many votes on the left.   

As much as Labour and Green insiders might disagree, when one party is riding high – the other tends to suffer.   

Ahead of the 2017 election, the Greens were soaring: Polling between 12-15 per cent. Labour, meanwhile, was languishing in the mid-20s.  

Then came a circuit breaker by the name of Jacinda Ardern.   

And as her star rose, the Greens fell – not helped by the messy resignation of Metiria Turei.  

Now, the Greens have their own circuit breaker and to make matters better for the party, they’re not starting from a low base.   

If she wins the co-leadership race, which she will, Swarbrick will take her party into uncharted polling territory.   

But popularity can only take a party so far. Successful politicians are ruthless, and she’s already showing early signs she’s a killer.   

In her press statement announcing her co-leadership bid, Swarbrick made a rather ambitious goal, when speaking about supercharging the party at an “even greater scale”.  

“It means more Greens MPs in Parliament and ultimately, our nation’s first Green-led Government.”  

She went further when speaking to press, saying under her watch, the Greens will be the leading movement of the political left.   

“It’s abundantly clear to New Zealanders out there that the legacy parties are just that – they do not represent the future of this country.”  

A dig at not just National, but would-be bedfellows Labour.   

Swarbrick knows that prosperity for the Greens will mean pain for Labour and she’s not side-stepping the issue.   

In fact, she’s front-footing it.  

Her declared candidacy was a message of hope for party faithful, but also a shot across the bow at Labour; and a well-timed one at that.   

For the first time in six years, Labour MPs are battling irrelevance as they navigate the wilderness of opposition.   

No longer the picture of strength and unity it was under Ardern, left-leaning voters might start to wander – and wander straight into the Greens camp.   

Right where Swarbrick wants them.  

But she’ll need an awful lot of them to walk away from Labour to fulfil her dream of one day, being the first Green Prime Minister.