Incumbent mayor Tim Shadbolt unsuccessfully sought a tenth term against nine other candidates, losing to his deputy Nobby Clark.
[2] This followed a scandal wherein Shadbolt's driving licence was suspended and deputy mayor Nobby Clark criticized him for not being forthcoming about the reason.
[8] An independent report into council dysfunction in November 2020 found Shadbolt's lack of leadership as a key factor.
[9] A follow-up report released in September 2021 noted overall improvement in the council but still dubbed Shadbolt "an unavoidable and inconvenient distraction".
[12] Gary Tong, the Mayor of Southland District since 2013, announced his candidacy on 28 October 2021, having decided to run about a year prior.
[15] Noel Peterson, a Bluff Community Board member since 2019, announced his intent to stand in late 2021,[16] but did not officially launch his campaign until May 2022.
[27] He had previously said a year prior that he would not run for any office,[28] and had even intended to resign early as deputy in March before being convinced not to by Shadbolt.
[30] Upon Clark's announcement, Shadbolt once again decried the council as toxic and put out a plea to the public that if they won't re-elect him, they should elect someone completely new.
[31] In June, Clark announced the formation of a group of council candidates he would run alongside, unusual for local Invercargill elections.
She had intended to contest the 2019 mayoral election, but her registration 15 minutes before the deadline was rejected because the correct address of one of her nominators was not on the electoral roll.
[19] Morton moved to Invercargill in January 2022 and started posting TikTok videos in April, amassing nearly 5,500 followers as of 1 August.
[43] On 31 August, Shadbolt stated that he did not expect to win, based on various informal polls, and would scale back his campaign as a result.