The National Party candidate who is the frontrunner to win the Hamilton East electorate has been a staunch opponent of fluoridation of water, vaccine mandates and has supported groups that spread misinformation.
In social media posts, Ryan Hamilton claimed Covid deaths had been inflated and once claimed poverty is not a reason to fluoridate water because most of the poor drank Raro.
The revelations come in a bonus episode of RNZ's Undercurrent documentary podcast, which has just dropped online.
No-one from the National Party was willing to come on the programme Monday morning to discuss this story.
Susie Ferguson has more.
