Hayden Tasker is running for the vacant Western Ward seat on the Ashburton District Council.
The nominations opened on Thursday and Tasker, the son of former councillor Bev Tasker and former deputy mayor Roger Tasker, is the first nomination in the Western Ward by-election.
The by-election comes after the passing of councillor Rodger Letham in December.
Tasker stood for one of the five seats in the Ashburton Ward in October and was the seventh-highest polling candidate.
In the Western Ward incumbents, Liz McMillan and Letham were re-elected, with Dame Lynda Topp the only other candidate.
Topp is yet to signal if she will stand in the by-election.
Candidates do not have to live within the ward, or the district at all, but must be nominated by two people who are enrolled to vote in Western Ward.
Nominations close on March 16.
If a second nomination is received there will be an election process with eligible voters having from April 20 until May 12 to cast their votes.
The successful candidate will then be sworn in as a new district councillor for the rest of the term.
Western Ward councillors also sit on the Methven Community Board.

• By Jonathan Leask