Labour's Te Tai Tonga Committee has gone with tradition, picking Rino Tirikatene as its candidate for the next election.
Mr Tirikatene, 37, is the nephew of Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, who held Southern Maori for Labour from 1967 - 1996, and the grandson of Eruera Tirikatene, who won the seat in 1932 as the first Ratana MP.
He believes he's got a strong chance of unseating the first term Maori Party MP Rahui Katene and says he will be pushing issues like education, employment and economic development that affect Maori every day.
Waatea News reports Mr Tirikatene previously stood for Labour in 1996 in the central North Island seat of Te Puku o Te Whenua.
