A sea of red on the Coast

The Central Coast voted overwhelming last weekend to return its three incumbent ALP members to Federal Parliament.

As at May 7, with 86 per cent of the vote counted in the seat of Robertson, the ALP’s Dr Gordon Reid has enjoyed a 7.1 per cent swing in his favour to secure a second term with a 59.3 per cent majority over his main rival, Lucy Wicks, from the LNP.

Reid won 45.3 per cent of the primary vote, while Wicks’ primary vote fell more than 9 per cent to 30.7 per cent.

One Nation’s Matt Lloyd also saw a strong positive swing of 2.9 per cent (reaching more than 6,300 votes) in his favour compared to the 2022 election.

In the seat of Dobell, Emma McBride enjoyed a modest 3 per cent swing to retain her seat, held since 2016, with a majority of 59.5 per cent with 85 per cent of votes counted.

McBride’s primary vote was only slightly higher than 2022 at 43.3 per cent.

Liberal candidate Brendan Small suffered a 5.6 per cent swing against, while both The Greens and One Nation saw a positive swing to record a primary vote of 9.9 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively.

In Shortland, the ALP’s Pat Conroy has been returned with an increased majority of 61.3 per cent with 84 per cent of the vote counted.

Conroy’s primary vote increased 4.9 per cent with the Liberal’s Emma King’s primary vote falling 5.2 per cent to just 26.6 per cent.

The Greens, One Nation and Independent James Pheils all saw a material swing in their favour.