The seat was vacated by former Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark, who resigned from the New Zealand Parliament on 17 April 2009[3] following her appointment to head the United Nations Development Programme.

Main issues surrounding the campaign included the building of the Waterview Connection and the Auckland Region becoming a supercity.

[5] Prior to the election, National had 58 seats in the House of Representatives, Labour had 42, Green had 9, ACT had 5, Māori had 5, Progressive had 1, and United Future had 1.

[8] Shortly after his selection, media attention focused on articles he wrote for Foreign Affairs and World Today (in 1998 and 2001 respectively) arguing for the use and regulation of private military companies by Western governments for peacekeeping missions where they are unwilling to contribute troops.

[11] Media speculation prior to the selection suggested that the Labour Party nomination would go to then-current list MP Phil Twyford.

This followed media reports that the Labour Party was unwilling to allow Twyford's list place to be taken by defeated Auckland Central MP Judith Tizard.

[12] First-term list MP Melissa Lee beat 2008 candidate Ravi Masuku for the National Party nomination on 5 May.

[13] Lee faced allegations that her production company Asia Vision had spent New Zealand on Air money making a promotional video for the National Party ahead of the 2008 election.

He campaigned from Wellington, instead of Auckland,[24] save for an open-invite slingshot battle on top of Mount Albert on 6 June, which he invited all other candidates to attend.

Transit New Zealand announced in 2008 (during the last year of the Fifth Labour Government) that its preferred option was for a two-lane tunnel costed at NZ$1.97 billion.

[36] Green Party candidate Russel Norman described the plan as "better than the worst of all options", but added that the best anti-congestion investment would be public transport.

[39] Melissa Lee was widely criticised for claiming that the SH20 Waterview Connection would stop criminals from South Auckland committing crime in Mt Albert.

The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance released its report at the end of March and the ruling National Party outlined its plans before campaigning began.

[47] On Wednesday, 10 June, John Boscawen, Melissa Lee, Russel Norman, David Shearer and Judy Turner (the candidates from five main parties) appeared on the TVNZ show Back Benches.

Shearer's huge majority meant that a low turnout was predicted, because voters may have felt that the result was inevitable.