The atmosphere was fizzing at National MP Penny Simmonds' party in Invercargill as she cantered to a comfortable win in her electorate.
As the vote count reached 65%, the road ahead was clear and Mrs Simmonds thanked her 120 strong crowd at the Kelvin Hotel for their support during her campaign.
Mrs Simmonds polled 18,578 votes, well ahead of Labour's Liz Craig (9689).
Mrs Simmonds welcomed the result in her electorate and the country.
"I've been so fortunate to have so many people helping me - other 100 volunteers doing all sorts of things. It's very humbling to know that those people all want to work to help get National into Government, and they should be very proud with the work they've done."
She said while there had been a changing mood in the country for some time, it was wonderful to see the results come through the night.
"I think there's been a lot of work by the National Party machine, I think it's been incredibly well-run campaign... But also, I think it's a strong signal from the country that they don't believe the country was going in the right direction."
"Christopher Luxon is a very focused leader and he is really adamant that we've had to be ready with all our policy... He wanted to make sure that if we got the privilege of being in Government, that we were ready to go straight away. I feel like there's been a lot of work done."
National had 42.9% of the party vote and Labour 25.7%.
