New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd has confirmed he will not be standing for a second term in office - having suffered abuse, including being spat at, over his support for a Maori ward.

Judd, who was elected three years ago, said he did not want the forthcoming October election to be a rehash of the ward debate.

On Thursday night Judd told TV's Seven Sharp that he was not seeking re-election.

"As much as I want to. I just know it will be used as a fight."

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The father-of-two said he had been spat at in the supermarket in front of his children and had seen people crossing the road to avoid him because of his support for a Maori ward.

"I've somewhat hidden my family and stopped taking them out to events with me."

He also said mayors from other cities around the country had shunned him at functions.

"I'm used to having a cup of tea on my own because, 'heaven forbid we talk about that Maori stuff with you'."

The announcement confirmed rumours that Judd would not stand again.

Last month Maori TV programme Native Affairs' host Oriini Tipene-Leach said the mayor had told the show he would not seek re-election, but at the time Judd refused to confirm the statement.

Judd was elected in 2013 in a landslide victory of 16,883 votes to incumbent Mayor Harry Duynhoven's 7677.

But the mayor has been open about his fear that he had lost considerable public support over his decision to support the inclusion of a Maori ward at the council in 2016.

Last year a citizens' initiated referendum quashed the idea, with a massive 83 per cent of the 25,338 returned votes against the proposal.

Out of 471 people who voted in a Stuff poll last month on whether Judd would get their support if he stood again, 68 per cent said he would not get their vote.

In the past Judd has said that he is a "recovering racist".

Last December he said 2015 had been a hard year and he'd had "massive pressure" put on him to back down.

"I've had councillors wanting to move a vote of no confidence. I had mayors in the region message me to stop embarrassing the region. I've got two massive folders of strong views for me to step down."

And he said he had had to deal with his own feelings of guilt over his "ignorance" as well as the pushback from people he cared about. But he said he stood for the truth as he saw it.