ACT Local

The party had not put forward local government candidates prior to 2025. Party leader David Seymour told TVNZ's Breakfast that the party had "strong" values related to "saving money, letting people be free to choose and treating people equally". The party was the first national-level right wing party to contest local elections, something typically only the left wing parties had done.

Seymour told the New Zealand Herald that the campaign was "exploratory", saying that better representation was needed on local councils. He said that in 2023 that the country had voted for change but that local councils had not "got the memo" and that it was time for a "clean-out".

Rates

ACT local government spokesperson Cameron Luxton criticised rising rates across the country; he said "Councillors will be standing for cutting waste, reducing rates, and keeping councils focused on their knitting, because that is the problem New Zealanders are facing". Seymour said that the party would be for less "waste" with regards to local council spending, saying that ratepayers were "fed up" with previous councillors that had made promises they had not delivered on. He was "frustrated" at the "inefficiencies" in local councils.

Climate change

The party announced that their candidates would oppose climate action by local councils. This included opposing funding for emission reductions, disregarding missions from council land use consents, opposing emissions reduction plans, opposing climate emergency declarations, opposing ratepayer-funded climate junkets, and a focus on storm water infrastructure and stop banks. Luxton said the focus on climate action was a cause of massive rates increases.

Public transportation

Seymour said that the party would oppose efforts "[to get] people out of their cars". He said that councils had been "waging war" on drivers and that ACT candidates would support more choice in transport. He pointed to cycleways and speedbumps as part of this alleged war.

Co-governance

The party would support getting rid of the "racial discrimination" that had "crept" into council politics, opposing co-governance and Māori wards.

Fundraising

Candidates would be expected to fund their own campaigns, according to Seymour.

Joel MacManus of The Spinoff said that the party's "core" principles would translate easily to local politics; these principles included cutting spending, reducing rates, ending Māori wards, and ending co-governance. MacManus suggested it could be a good thing as voters often find it hard to know where every local candidate stands, and that an ACT endorsement would be a "simple signifier" of someone's values.

Julienne Molineaux, a senior social sciences lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, noted a tension between clear policy positions put out by the party and the requirements under the Local Government Act for councillors to make decisions with an open mind and to avoid predetermined positions.

2025

Radio New Zealand reported on 13 June that the party had finalised its candidate selection. The party was not considering mayoral or Māori ward candidates. Seymour said the party was in discussions with sitting councillors, and he claimed that over 300 people had indicated an interest in running. The party began announcing candidates several weeks later.

ACT announced 46 candidates (37 running for local or regional councils, and 9 running exclusively for local boards in Auckland) across 24 councils.

According to provisional results released on 12 October, nine of the 46 ACT Local candidates (roughly 20%) were elected into local government positions.