Election 2026: Campaign stress affects politicians’ sleep, diet and mental health

Detailed summary

Manurewa MP Arena Williams says she ate about 300 chicken nuggets in the final three weeks of the 2026 election campaign. Her team of Labour Party volunteers frequently met at the…

ACT leader David Seymour visited Rollickin during the 2026 campaign to try the gelato named after him - ‘David S’more’. Photo /Anna Heath

Manurewa MP Arena Williams says she ate about 300 chicken nuggets in the final three weeks of the 2026 election campaign.

Her team of Labour Party volunteers frequently met at the McDonald’s in Manurewa or Clendon before going door knocking.

“[The McDonald’s] were always really welcoming to us, we could use the facilities,” Williams says. “And we would always feed our volunteers ... I have eaten so much McDonald’s this campaign.”

Whether it’s diet, lack of sleep or high stress levels, life on the campaign trail is not always healthy.

But what does an election campaign – and in the case this year, a delayed result – do to those at the heart of it?

Between the string of events and meetings, there’s no telling where or when the next meal will be.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson has talked about how stress would cause him to eat more, while former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern would stop eating.

Former Labour chief press secretary Andrew Campbell used to make up a bag of healthy snacks for Ardern to graze on between appointments. While well-intentioned, he says he would eat most of them.

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