Tāmaki Makaurau voted for "unapologetic representation" says Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer as Oriini Kaipara takes out the Māori electorate.
Labour conceded, saying the Pāti Māori "brand" can't be dismissed.
It was hard to sell Peeni Henare given he was already in Parliament, Willie Jackson said, but he didn't think it was personal.
Some journalists were denied access to Te Pāti Māori's election night event, with the party saying there was a long way to go to "healing some of the hurt media have done to Māori".
Te Pāti Māori will retain six seats in Parliament after Kaipara won with a margin of around 3000 votes.
In preliminary results, she had just over 6,000 votes, ahead of Labour's Peeni Henare on just under 3,100.
The other three candidates received a combined total of about 200 votes. Voter turnout was 27.1 percent.
Kaipara arrived at Te Pāti Māori's by-election event in Te Atatu Peninsula last night to cheers and applause, greeted warmly with hugs and kisses before a tight embrace with her new co-leaders.
Beginning with a waiata, and an acknowledgement of her predecessor Takutai Tarsh Kemp, Kaipara then addressed the crowd with some in tears as she spoke.
"Thank you all, not just for being here, but for working hard, for your toil, your efforts, your support, but more than anything, your belief."
She specifically addressed women, thanking those who had "seen yourselves in me, your children in me, your mokopuna in me".
Kaipara thanked her opponent as well, saying "nothing changes in terms of my love, my respect, my utmost admiration for you".
She spoke of the rapid "learning curve" she'd been through during the campaign, and said she was looking forward to "fighting a good fight alongside" Henare.
Speaking to some media after her speech, Kaipara said she was "over the moon" and "overwhelmed with gratitude".
Party President John Tamihere also said he was elated, and that the result was "astonishing, when you think about it" given the resources the Labour party had.
He said the only takeaway from this result was that Māori were now voting for their whakapapa and mokopuna.
"They're now moving to our movement, and they're dropping the reliance on mainstream parties and looking at us for leadership."
Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said Tāmaki Makaurau had told the party "we want unapologetic representation".
She said people believed in Te Pāti Māori's vision of an Aotearoa-hou (a new New Zealand).
"They wanted transformation, and that's what we were feeling on the ground. They got what they asked for."
Ngarewa-Packer said Kaipara would bring "hope" and "transformation".
"She brings what it's like to be at kura. She brings what it's like to live here. And as urban Māori, she brings all the hopes and aspirations of Tāmaki Makaurau."
She also acknowledged Peeni Henare, "we love him dearly".
"But we actually need to be better. We need to be more," she said, adding that Kaipara represented what the Māori queen had spoke about at Koroneihana.
Kaipara said she was ready to enter parliament, having got a taste of politics during the campaign. She said her experience in journalism and interviewing politicians also gave her an insight.
RNZ - who were told one of their reporters was not welcome to the event - asked the former broadcaster what she thought of some media being barred.
Reporters from TVNZ, Stuff, and the Sunday Star Times were also among those barred from attending.
Kaipara said the main focus was for whānau to be acknowledged, and the party to show its gratitude.
"We have run this by tikanga Māori right from the start."
It wasn't about isolating media she said, but about "what we are, who we are, and we put our whanau first, always, and we set the example."
"We don't just talk it. We walk it."
Co-leader Rawiri Waititi told RNZ "it was Te Pāti Māori against the world" from the outset of the by-election, "media, the Labour juggernaut, every party in parliament supported Peeni."
"It was a David and Goliath type situation."
Asked about democracy and the issue of accessing elected representatives, Waititi said Māori hadn't had "a fair shot at democracy since democracy was implemented in this country".
"We owe mainstream media nothing.
"There's a long way to healing some of the hurt that media have done to Māori over the years."
"The numbers haven't fallen our way."
It was a disappointing night for the Labour Party, who held their election function at Te Māhurehure Marae in Auckland's Point Chevalier.
The votes came in fast, but not in favour of Peeni Henare who was decisively in second place from the moment the results began being published.
Once the count was at 80 percent, he conceded.
In his concession speech, Henare said he was proud of his campaign and urged his followers stay positive.
"My humble ask of you this evening, the first one, is that we act with dignity and with grace and we say to all of our whānau 'when they go low, we go high'," he said.
"We've still got another shot. In a year's time, we need to be more motivated, more driven, and - I'm going to say this tonight - more organised, in order to topple this government."
Speaking to media afterward, Henare acknowledged the numbers didn't go their way that evening.
"Tāmaki Makaurau has spoken. I was always clear that it belonged to the people, and that the people had their opportunity to say who was going to speak for them."
Henare said the loss would send a message to the Labour Party that it had work to do.
"We're up for that," he said.
"We've got a strong party right now that I think can continue to challenge this government and look for a good stand next year in 2026."
Henare admitted the voter turnout was much lower than the 2023 general election.
"In the 2023 election, I got over 10,000 votes and now this turnout is extremely low."
"But that's their right [and] people can get out to vote and that's what they did today. The numbers haven't fallen our way, and we'll just have to continue to work hard to represent the many people that don't vote… that didn't turn out this particular by-election."
Campaign manager Willie Jackson said while the campaign had been "terrific", Labour could not discount the Te Pāti Māori "brand".
"It was always tough with Tarsh dying. It was very, very hard to fill that space [because] straight away there's support that will go to Te Pāti Māori," he said.
"I said from the start it was 50-50, I thought it was 50-50, I thought it would be close - I was wrong - but I never thought we were the favourites at all."
Jackson said selling Henare's campaign would be "tough" because he was already in Parliament, and maintained it wasn't a vote against Henare.
"Our people kept saying, 'you're already there, Peeni', there was just a lot against us.
"This is politics. These are the ups and downs. We're all losers, sometimes," he said.
Labour was also asked about some media being denied access to Te Pāti Māori, which Jackson said was sad for democracy.
He said this was politics, "that's the life we lead, the game we play," and suggested Te Pāti Māori should have more of an "open door policy".
"We're not afraid to front you and say what didn't go well for us."
Henare said if someone sought a public mandate, they were open to criticism, "if you do that, you must expect to be buffered by the winds".
The Electoral Commission said all votes counted on election night would be recounted as the official results process got under way on Sunday.
That will include counting the special votes.
The commission said the target to release the official results for the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election was Wednesday, September 17.
The estimated total of votes cast, including specials, is just shy of 12,000, which represents a voter turnout of 27.1 percent.
