The by-election in March 2015 was won by New Zealand First party leader Winston Peters.

King in turn was defeated by the Labour Party's Willow-Jean Prime in the 2020 general election, who became the first Labour MP elected for the area since the party won the predecessor electorate Bay of Islands in 1938.

Prime was later defeated in the 2023 election by National's Grant McCallum Northland is the northernmost general electorate of New Zealand.

At the 2008 election, the town of Wellsford became part of Northland due to heavy population growth in the Rodney seat.

[2] At the 2019/20 review, the seat lost Wellsford to the new electorate of Kaipara ki Mahurangi, but gained Poroti and Maungakaramea from Whangārei.

The Northland electorate was created ahead of the introduction of mixed-member proportional voting in the 1996 election.

It was formed from the whole of the Far North electorate (called Bay of Islands before 1993), and a large section of the Hobson seat.

Carter left Parliament in June 2011 to take up a post as New Zealand's High Commissioner to the Cook Islands.

His departure did not result in a by-election, as the vacancy occurred within six months of the next general election.

[3] In May 2011 Mike Sabin was selected as the National Party candidate in place of Carter.

[12] The by-election in March 2015 was won by New Zealand First party leader Winston Peters.

The upper North Island is also a place where New Zealand First has one of its strongest voter bases; in 1996, Ian Peters and Frank Grover of the Alliance beat Labour's candidate into fourth place and nine percent of the vote.

Third parties do well in Northland – at the 1960 and 1963 elections, Social Credit candidate Vernon Cracknell came runner up in Hobson, before taking the seat with 48 percent of the vote in 1966.

The area had previously been receptive to social credit theory – Harold Rushworth of the credit-influenced Country Party had held Bay of Islands for three terms, from 1928 to 1938.

Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list prior to the by-election.