The former Prime Minister insists election 2026 won't be a rerun of last year's campaign.
Hipkins says Auckland's an area Labour lost a lot of support from last election.
Read the full speech here.
"It's a great honour. I don't think I'll get half as good as Lange but I'll give it my best shot and I want to thank people for their support."
"I shouldn't have tweeted it and I'm sorry I did."
"They are making choices to spend more money on themselves and put people out of work."
"There's still two and a half years to go before the next election."
"These decisions by the National Government will make life a lot harder for those doing it the toughest."
"We weren't spending willy-nilly, we saved nearly 20,000 people's lives."
!["[We] all know the size of the overall job we've got ahead."](https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/07/chris-hipkins-promises-labour-will-be-formidable-force-at-election-2026/_jcr_content/par/video/image.dynimg.1080.q40.jpg/v1720074755664/chris-hipkins-AM-190624.jpg)
