In 1965, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors.

There was a rift within the Citizens' Association over their selected candidate for the mayoralty, Matt Benney.

Benney was a first term councillor and formerly a reputable civil servant, serving as Under-secretary for Mines from 1940 until he retired in 1959.

Benney was chosen as the Citizens' nominee for the mayoralty by the association's executive, but he withdrew his nomination after it became clear that a sizeable majority of sitting Citizens' councillors instead favoured deputy-mayor Denis McGrath.

Labour supporters thought he should make way for another candidate on the council ticket and reduce the number of wasted votes that would be caused on an inevitable dual election.