[1] She was a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2016 to 2020, representing the electorate of Braitling, defeating former Chief Minister Adam Giles in a major upset.
[3] Wakefield stood against Chief Minister Adam Giles in the 2016 election, in the south Alice Springs seat of Braitling.
However, amid the massive Labor wave that swept through the Territory on election night, Wakefield was ahead of Giles as counting began.
This made Wakefield just the second challenger to oust a sitting Majority Leader/Chief Minister in their own seat, and the third to unseat a major-party leader in the Territory.
Despite a redistribution making Braitling slightly friendlier to Labor, the 2020 Northern Territory election saw Wakefield defeated by CLP challenger Joshua Burgoyne with a swing of 4 points.