His father was a trained priest and dairy farmer in Waimangaroa and at the 1978 and 1981 general elections was the Social Credit Party candidate for the West Coast electorate.

[2] His family are Irish Catholic with New Zealand roots in Westport, and O'Connor stated that "growing up there's a fairly healthy disrespect for the law" where he grew up.

[1] In his maiden speech as an MP, he reflected on undercover operations he'd taken part in "armed with a new identity—a black leather jacket, a beard, long hair, and earrings.

[3] However, on 1 February 2017 O'Connor confirmed he was seeking the Labour Party nomination for the seat of Ōhāriu in the 2017 election to challenge long-serving incumbent Peter Dunne of United Future.

[8][9] His candidacy and selection surprised some (it was reported he had been granted a waiver of the requirement to be a Labour member for 12 months before seeking a nomination) and was criticised on the left-wing blog The Standard.

[14] In July 2020 O'Connor was criticised for complaining about the reduction in MPs' salaries that was made in solidarity with other pay cuts and job losses in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[19] During the 2023 New Zealand general election, O'Connor retained Ohāriu by a margin of 1,260 votes, beating National list MP Nicola Willis.