National politics, 1996–2002

Wade-Brown first stood for the Green Party as a list candidate (ranked 44th) under the Alliance banner in the 1996 election.^[7] In the 1999 election, she stood for the Green Party as a list candidate (ranked 29th).^[8] In the 2002 election, she stood for the Green Party as a list candidate (ranked 15th)^[9] in the Rongotai electorate and placed third.^[10]

Local government politics, 1994–2010

Wade-Brown served as a Wellington City Councillor for the Southern ward in 1994–1998 and 2001–2010.^[4]

In 2010 Wade-Brown decided to run for Mayor of Wellington instead of standing again in her council seat in Wellington's Southern ward. Wade-Brown beat the incumbent mayor, Kerry Prendergast, by 176 votes. Some media outlets reported that this was the closest margin ever seen in the Wellington mayoral race.^[11] In total, Wade-Brown received 24,881 votes, compared to Prendergast's 24,705 votes.^[11]

Paul Eagle replaced Wade-Brown as a Councillor for the Southern ward.

Wade-Brown did not favour Wellington's adopting a 'super city' type council like Auckland, though she supported reducing the number of councils in greater Wellington from nine to "three or four".^[12]

Local government politics, 2010–2016

Wade-Brown was re-elected as Mayor of Wellington in October 2013, beating her main rival John Morrison 27,171 to 24,691 after five rounds of vote allocation.^[13][14]

Wade-Brown listed her priorities for the first 100 days as "the south coast cycle lanes, completing the draft annual plan before Christmas, agreeing on three-year priorities, taking first steps towards a living wage for council staff, slimming down council-owned companies and continuing to improve shared services with other councils". A basic form of the living wage was introduced in 2014, increasing salaries for over 500 council staff as well as people in the zoo, museums trust, security contractors, and cleaners.^[15]

In August 2014 Wade-Brown became an executive leader of Mayors for Peace. Peace Action Wellington criticised Wellington Venues' decision to host a 'War Conference' sponsored by Lockheed Martin in June 2015 because of her role as the executive leader of Mayors for Peace.^[16] A spokesperson for Peace Action Wellington said, "Her commitment to working for peace appears to be as shallow as her understanding of the role of weapons manufacturers in promoting war and militarism. In her response, the Mayor has equated the Weapons Conference with the likes of an international yoga meeting or a sustainable living expo."^[16]

Wade-Brown was criticised heavily for her involvement in the construction of a cycleway in the Wellington suburb of Island Bay.^[17][18] However, she increased the cycling budget from $70,000 p.a. when she was elected to $37 million over four years, including central government funding.

In 2016, the World Economic Forum recognised her as one of five ground-breaking female Mayors.^[19]

Under her leadership, Wellington maintained its rank as the 12th highest city for quality of life. In 2015, Vogue magazine described Wellington as the "coolest little city" and the BBC described Wellington as the "hottest little city".^[20]

Successful projects in partnership with central government included Pukeahu National Memorial Park, the Cenotaph precinct and WW100 commemorations. Other achievements included significant biodiversity increases with pest control and forest restoration. In 2013 Wellington became a Biophilic Cities partner.^[21]

Celia Wade-Brown was expected to run for reelection in 2016, but announced that she would not run for the mayoralty again. Justin Lester replaced Wade-Brown as Mayor of Wellington, winning the popular vote by more than 6000 votes over his rivals.^[22][23][24]

Post-mayoralty, 2016–2023

Wade-Brown moved permanently to the Mangatarere Valley outside Carterton in 2017 in a property she had owned with her husband since 1987.^[25] After a four-year hiatus from politics, Wade-Brown was selected as the Green Party's candidate for the Wairarapa general electorate seat at the 2020 election, and campaigned to maximise the Greens' party vote.^[26]

National politics, 2023–present

Wade-Brown was a candidate in the Wairarapa seat again at the 2023 election, and was 15th on the Green party list.^[27] She came fourth place, winning 1,832 votes.^[28] The Green Party had its most successful result ever, but was one seat short of bringing Wade-Brown to Parliament.^[29][30]

Following Golriz Ghahraman's resignation announcement on 16 January 2024, Wade-Brown was declared elected a Member of Parliament from the Green Party list by the Electoral Commission on 19 January.^[31][32]