He represented the electorate for six parliamentary terms until 1928. In 1919, Tom Paul nearly won the seat for Labour, losing by only 84 votes. Sidey was succeeded by William Burgoyne Taverner of the United Party in the . At the next election in 1931, the electorate was won by Fred Jones of the Labour Party. Jones held the electorate until 1946, when it was abolished, and successfully stood in St Kilda that year. The electorate was re-established for the and won by Michael Cullen, who later became Finance minister. Cullen had previously represented St Kilda (1981–1996). At the next election in 1999, Cullen stood as a list candidate only and was succeeded by David Benson-Pope as the electorate MP. After three parliamentary terms, Benson-Pope was not selected by the Labour Party as their candidate, but Clare Curran was chosen instead. Curran has represented the electorate since the 2008 election. The city of Dunedin is a New Zealand Labour Party stronghold; The last National MP elected from a Dunedin constituency was Richard Walls in 1975. However, in 2011, National Party candidate, Jo Hayes, reduced the incumbent, Clare Curran's majority from 6449 in 2008 to 4175, and National gained a plurality of the party vote in Dunedin South by 1837 votes. The winning of the party vote is unprecedented in Dunedin South, which was seen, pre 2011, as a Labour Party stronghold. However the predecessor seat of St Kilda was represented by Jim Barnes of the National Party between 1951 and 1957. In the , Curran was successful against National's Hamish Walker. Key  Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 45,818            Table footnotes: