1952 Electoral Redistribution, Ray Boord of the Labour Party won the . Boord served two parliamentary terms and was beaten by National's Harry Lapwood in the . Lapwood served for six parliamentary terms and retired in 1978. Lapwood was succeeded by his party colleague Paul East in the . East also served six parliamentary terms until 1996. With the advent of Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting in , the Rotorua electorate was greatly expanded to include areas previously part of the and electorates. Both Tarawera and Rotorua were safe National Party electorates, and in the ensuing battle for the nomination, the two incumbents, East and Max Bradford, faced off for a Rotorua nomination eventually secured by Bradford, with East securing a high list position. Bradford won the 1996 election with a nearly 6,000 votes margin. Despite both electorates being reasonably loyal to the National Party, Bradford's tenure as MP for Rotorua was just three years, before being ousted by Labour MP Steve Chadwick in the . Chadwick's initial majority of 4,978 votes blew out to over 7,500 in 2002 before it was reined in to just 662 in 2005, as the National Party consolidated the centre-right vote, with its biggest gains being in the provincial North Island. In 2005, Chadwick's party was less popular than their candidate, coming 1,645 votes behind National. In 2008 Chadwick was defeated by National candidate Todd McClay who won the electorate with a majority of 5,067 votes. In the 2011 election McClay again returned as the member for Rotorua, increasing his majority to 7,357 votes. In 2014, McClay was elected as MP for a third term beating television personality Tāmati Coffey by a similar majority to that in the previous election. Rotorua is also an electorate where the New Zealand First party does well, with its biggest appeal among provincial New Zealanders, and as results in 1996 indicate, Māori: in the three most recent elections, New Zealand First has polled around three per cent higher in Rotorua than it did in the rest of New Zealand. Members of Parliament for Rotorua Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections. Key List MPs from Rotorua Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Rotorua electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections. Election results 2020 election 2017 election 2014