In the election Tabuteau won the required number of votes and replaced Mark as deputy leader of the party.

Rumors that incumbent deputy leader Ron Mark, who had successfully challenged deputy leader Tracey Martin in 2015 was set to be rolled by a member of the NZ First caucus were first published in a Stuff.co.nz article on February 22, with the only candidate being list MP Fletcher Tabuteau.

Other possible candidates Tracey Martin and Shane Jones had both ruled themselves out, both citing their heavy ministerial workloads that had taken on after the formation of the Coalition government at the 2017 New Zealand general election.

[1] Prior to the leadership election, a change of hands seemed all but guaranteed, with stuff citing that party leader Winston Peters, who was assumed to have voted for Mark's opponent Martin in the 2015 deputy leadership election, would probably be throwing his support behind Tabuteau, who was a close ally of his.

Following the election, Mark stated he was privileged to have held the role, and looked forward to being able to focus on his ministerial profiles of Veterans' Affairs and Minister of Defence, and that losing the deputy leadership freed him up to win the Wairarapa electorate come the 2020 New Zealand general election.