Labor hold onto Mark McGowan's old seat in Rockingham by-election, prompted by former WA premier's resignation - 9News

Magenta Marshall has claimed victory in the Rockingham by-election, which had been held by former Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan for 27 years.

Labor retained the seat with over 49 per cent of the primary vote in the first few hours of counting on Saturday night.

"I'm honoured to be elected as the new member for Rockingham! I'll always stand up for our community," Marshall said in a post on social media.

Magenta Marshall has claimed victory in the Rockingham by-election, which was prompted by former premier Mark McGown resigned. (Facebook)

Marshall entered Rockingham Bowling Club with WA Premier Roger Cook for Labor's post-by-election function and both appeared jubilant among the party faithful.

The contest for McGowan's old seat was Labor's to lose and many saw it as a poll on Cook's leadership as the new premier.

While it was a win for the party, they were down by 33 per cent on McGowan's 2021 State Election results.

At the peak of his powers, he received a staggering 88 per cent two-party preferred vote – with about 20,000 of the 24,000 voters ticking his name at the ballot box.

McGowan, whose shock resignation in May prompted the by-election, spent much of the day on the hustings visiting several voting centres to help his successor.

The polls have just closed and the votes are now being counted in the Rockingham by-election. (9News)

When asked if he was worried about whether Labor would lose its seat, the former Premier responded "we'll find out tonight".

"I expect we've done a lot of good things here in Rockingham," he said.

Marshall had thought it would probably come down to party preferences, as she went up against Liberal candidate Peter Hudson.

"There's a lot of support for Labor still, but I don't expect to have the same level of support that Mark McGowan did after being our champion for nearly 30 years," she said.

Cook said the long-held Labor seat is in a period of transition.

"Mark McGowan was a very popular Premier and I've been in the job now for just seven weeks," he said.

The contest for former WA Premier Mark McGowan's old seat is Labor's to lose and many see it as a poll on Roger Cook's leadership as the new premier. (9News)

"I think we need to be careful about what we read into any results tonight."

Labor dumped rival independent Hayley Edwards right down on its preference list in what was considered to be a late sign the party was worried.

"They've got a large margin so I'm surprised they would change their how to vote cards seeing as they should get the first primary vote," Edwards said.

Cost of living was a key issue for locals while the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act was front and centre of the Liberal campaign.

"The Premier was correct when he said it was going to be tight earlier on today," Hudson said.

"That's exactly what we've got, it's a 50-50 split."

"This is the second-safest Labor seat in the country and ultimately it will be a test of Roger Cook's leadership," Liberal leader Libby Mettam said.

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2023-07-29 13:08:49Z
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