The National Party has released its list for the 2026 election, with its top ranked team largely unchanged from current rankings.

As per the party’s constitution, leader Christopher Luxon and deputy Nicola Willis take the top two spots, followed by Chris Bishop, Simeon Brown and Erica Stanford.

The confirmation of Bishop at number three comes after questions over whether the Hutt South MP would retain that spot.

He is rumoured to have been behind previous destabilisation of Luxon’s leadership, though has always publicly denied it.

Goldsmith is at number six, followed by Louise Upston, and then Mark Mitchell.

Those top eight are all unchanged from current rankings.

The first change is Gerry Brownlee at number nine. He is currently listed 20th on the National Party website, given he is the Speaker and not counted among the top ranking ministers.

He is running as a list-only candidate so will need the list to enter Parliament.

Another list-only candidate is Nancy Lu, who has been given the 16th position.

New candidates that have been ranked highly include Dale Stephens in Christchurch Central (23), Mahesh Muralidhar in Tamaki (24), Katie Milne in West Coast-Tasman (25) and Angee Nicholas (26).

Earlier:

The positions of several high-profile MPs, including Chris Bishop and Paul Goldsmith, were being closely watched given they may need the list to have a place in Parliament after the election.

Bishop, currently the third-ranked National MP, holds the Hutt South electorate. But with it being a marginal seat and National’s general support on the slide, there is a view he will likely lose it.

Goldsmith and National’s Gerry Brownlee are in Parliament at the moment as list MPs. Brownlee is running at the election as a list-only candidate, meaning he won’t stand in an electorate, while Goldsmith is unlikely to topple David Seymour in Epsom.

Depending on how many electorates National retains at the election, there could be a limited number of list positions in Parliament available to candidates.

The first list spot in Parliament will likely be taken by deputy leader Nicola Willis, who is also not running for an electorate.

Under National’s constitution, the first two positions on the party list are given to the leader and deputy leader.

As leader Christopher Luxon will likely retain his safe seat of Botany, Willis would be the first MP needing the list to enter Parliament.

Previous analysis by National pollster David Farrar found that, based on poll results at the time, the party would only get two list positions.

That analysis, which had National receiving 38 seats in Parliament overall, considered the change in party vote but not the particular quirks of individual electorate races.

National’s support has fallen since the past election, with a Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll out on Friday having the party at 31%, compared with 38.1% three years ago. On those poll results, it would get 40 seats.

As the Herald wrote in June after the party’s conference, a sitting National Speaker has in recent past elections been given the third spot on the list. However, Brownlee, the current Speaker, said at the time he had no expectation of being given that spot.

Speaking on Saturday morning at an immigration announcement, senior National MP Erica Stanford said the party had an “incredibly strong team with a very strong track record”.

“Every single party vote counts because I want our big strong team back,’ she said.

“The reason for these [immigration changes] today is because of the people standing behind me and I want them back in Parliament and that means we have to party vote National.”

National MP Nancy Lu, who is running list-only, said she was “very hopeful” she would return to Parliament.

“I’m very hopeful and very confident as an entire team of the National Party working together to fight for every single party vote that we have around the country, to make sure that we will be re-elected as a strong government on November 7th.”

Melissa Lee, another National list MP, said she was “very pleased with the party.

“I think the work that we have actually done for the last three years will actually hopefully convince people that we can actually deliver for the future,” she said.

The list announcement comes after a difficult week for Luxon.

On Monday, he apologised for comments he made about businesses in Rotorua. He faced pressure over a lack of action taken over comments his coalition partner Winston Peters made about a Green MP. It was revealed he took a Defence Force plane home from a National fundraiser. And on Thursday, he surprised colleagues by expressing a desire for a referendum on MMP next term.

Peters was among the strongest critics of Luxon proposing an MMP referendum, accusing the National leader of a desperate “power grab” informed by poor polling.

The NZ First leader this morning challenged Luxon to support the party’s policy to hold a referendum on the seven Māori seats.

“If National think it’s a good idea to hold a referendum to ‘check-in on democracy’, why doesn’t National support NZ First’s legislation to ‘check-in on democracy’ by having a referendum on the continued existence of the Māori seats now that so many Māori are in Parliament without them?”

In February when NZ First announced it would campaign on a referendum, Luxon said it hadn’t been discussed by his caucus and acknowledged the Māori seats had been a feature of the political system for some time.

National has indicated it would contest some of the seven Māori seats. It has confirmed Coral Raukawa as the party’s candidate in the lower North Island seat of Te Tai Hauāuru, currently held by Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.