It's ended up with just 26.8 percent of the party vote, meaning 19 MPs are out of a job.
Brownlee told Kerre McIvor he'll be taking a couple of days to think about his future with the party.
"I'll be speaking to colleagues before making a decision. The party will hold discussions, to assess what went wrong."
Brownlee believes National ran a very good on-the-ground campaign, but the Covid 19 pandemic created a "herding" instinct behind the incumbent government.
Brownlee took over as campaign chair in July and has been a National MP for almost 25 years.
He entered Parliament in 1996, winning the Christchurch seat of Ilam and has held it ever since.
But last night, he lost it by more than 2000 votes.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com