David Luckie. Nelson became a single member electorate in 1881. Henry Levestam, who was first elected in an 1881 by-election to replace Adams was confirmed by the voters at the next three general elections (1881, 1884 and 1887), but he died in office on 11 February 1889. Joseph Harkness won the resulting and was confirmed in the . He retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1893 and was succeeded by John Graham, who with the started a representation of the electorate that would last until his retirement in 1911. Harry Atmore an Independent Member of Parliament succeeded John Graham in the , but he was defeated at the next election in 1914 by Thomas Field of the Reform Party. At the subsequent election in , Atmore defeated Field and represented the electorate until his death on 21 August 1946. Atmore's death did not cause a by-election, as the was held in November of that year. The contest was won by Edgar Neale of the National Party. He held the electorate until 1957, when he retired. Neale was succeeded by Stan Whitehead of the Labour Party in the . This started Labour's dominance in the electorate, which was to last for four decades. Whitehead died on 9 January 1976 in the office and this caused the , which was won by Labour's Mel Courtney. In the , Courtney stood as an Independent against Labour's Philip Woollaston, with the latter the successful candidate. Woollaston retired in 1990 and was succeeded by Labour's John Blincoe. When the electorate was enlarged for the , it absorbed most of the former seat of Tasman, held by National's Nick Smith. Smith defeated Blincoe and held the seat until the 2020 election, when Labour's Rachel Boyack won the seat. Despite a National Party candidate being elected for Nelson between 1996 and 2020, Labour has won the party vote in Nelson in all but three elections during the period (the three elections of the Fifth National Government). Nelson is also an electorate in which the Green Party performs better locally than the party does nationally. Combined, votes at the 2017 election for the Green Party candidate Matt Lawrey and Labour Party candidate Rachel Boyack would have been sufficient to unseat the incumbent Smith. Members of Parliament Key multi-member electorate single-member electorate List MPs Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person