Willow-Jean Prime

Willow-Jean Prime (née Downs; born 1983) is a New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand Parliament at the 2017 general election as a list representative of the New Zealand Labour Party. At the 2020 election, she won the electorate of Northland by 163 votes, the closest election of the 2020 cycle. Personal life Prime is of Te Kapotai, Ngāti Hine and Ngāpuhi descent and grew up in Northland. Her father Barry (d. 2018) was a train driver; she learnt to drive a train before a car and wanted to follow her father's career but was advised at school that women could not drive trains. Prime played basketball at school and was offered a scholarship to play in the United States. Prime has a Master of Laws from Waikato University, focusing on recent developments in Treaty settlements, Māori governance and indigenous development. She also has a conjoint Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws and a post-graduate Diploma of Māori and Pacific Development with distinction. She has worked as a solicitor. She lives near Pakaraka with her husband Dion, who is a teacher, and has two children. She was pregnant during both her 2015 and 2017 election campaigns. Political career