The boundaries of Te Tai Tonga have a lot in common with the seat of Southern Maori that it superseded in 1996 with the introduction of Mixed Member Proportional voting and an increase in the number of Māori electorates from four to five. The main difference involves the separation of the Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay into seats wholly located in the North Island – initially Te Puku O Te Whenua, and since 1999 Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. The voting patterns of Te Tai Tonga reflect the adaptation of Te Tai Tonga voters to proportional representation. Whetū Tirikatene-Sullivan had served as Southern Maori's representative in Parliament during the terms of five different governments and nine Prime Ministers, but the New Zealand First Party challenger Tū Wyllie tipped her out of the seat in 1996, as sixty years of Labour Party control of the four Māori electorates ended. In 1999 New Zealand First lost its electoral footing after an unpopular term in office, firstly as junior government-coalition partner and then following an internal split in the party, with much of the party's original parliamentary caucus leaving the party to prop up the government of Jenny Shipley. Along with a drop in the New Zealand First vote from thirteen to four percent nationwide came the return of the Māori electorates to Labour and the election of Mahara Okeroa to Parliament as the Labour Party MP for Te Tai Tonga. A political difference of opinion between many Māori and the Labour Party emerged in 2004, when Helen Clark's Labour government introduced the Seabed and Foreshore Bill, claiming the coastline for the Crown and in the process providing the catalyst for the launch of the Māori Party, which went on to win four of the seven Māori seats at the 2005 general election. Te Tai Tonga did not form part of this electoral sea-change, with Okeroa's majority slashed from 8,000 to around 2,500 despite his facing two fewer contenders than in 2002. At the same time, voters in the seat used the left-hand side of the ballot paper to up Labour's share of the party vote from 52 to 57 percent and to help re-elect Clark's Labour government. Rahui Katene won the electorate for the Māori Party in the, defeating the incumbent. Tirikatene won the electorate in with a margin of 1,475 votes. Tirikatene significantly increased his majority in the.
Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Te Tai Tonga electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.
