Mayoral hopeful Chloe Swarbrick has come in at third place in the Auckland Mayoral race.
The 22-year-old says she is proud of what she's achieved but says the result wasn't what she wanted.
"We'd hoped for better, but given the way it was pegged in the media as a two horse race initially and then as a bit of a foregone conclusion, there is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy."
"All the same, I'm proud, and I think all Aucklanders who voted for change will be proud as well."
Ms Swarbrick received 26,474 votes, well behind Mayor elect Phil Goff with 179,206 votes and Vic Crone's 105,413.
Despite the large margin she says it's good to see people are taking her seriously.
"When I entered the race initially there were no polls that sought to even include me."
She ended up polling around five percent near the beginning of voting, proving herself among voters.
"I think it's been conducive to quite a productive result really - more than anything this was never about me, it's about Aucklanders feeling involved and becoming stakeholders in our city's future."
She says she is proud of her grassroots campaign.
"Running it myself, it's allowed me to show people very honestly and frankly who I am and what I stand for, so I think that that has worked."
What the future holds for Ms Swarbrick is unsure.
"After playing this game of politics now, I'm not ruling it out, but I'm still working full time and I have been working full time throughout the whole campaign so on Monday I'm going back to work," she says.
Doing exactly what most 22-year-olds would.
Newshub.
