A by-election for the electoral district of Nepean in the Victorian Legislative Assembly will be held on 2 May 2026, following the resignation of Liberal Party MP and deputy leader Sam Groth.
Often a safe Liberal seat, the district of Nepean, formerly known as Dromana, was won by Labor for only the second time in its history at the 2018 Victorian state election, with Chris Brayne elected as the MP for the seat, which covers the southernmost end of the Mornington Peninsula from Safety Beach to Portsea. Following a boundary redistribution, Nepean had a notional margin of 0.7 percent for Labor. Liberal candidate Sam Groth succeeded at unseating Brayne at the 2022 Victorian state election, with a swing of 7.1 percent towards the Liberal Party. Groth was a former tennis player who had become a sports commentator, and had lived in Rye for a number of years at the time of the 2022 election.
Groth announced that he would not recontest the seat of Nepean on 5 January 2026, referring to "public pressure placed on my family", some of which he stated had come internally from within the Liberal Party. Groth had previously sued The Herald and Weekly Times for defamation, over claims that he had started a relationship with his wife while she was underage. The Herald Sun apologised for these claims in late 2025, and lawyers for both Groth and his wife have stated the claims were incorrect. On 4 February, the office of Victorian Liberal Party leader Jess Wilson confirmed that Groth intended to resign imminently from the Victorian Parliament, which would trigger a by-election in the electoral district of Nepean. Groth resigned on 13 February 2026.
The early by-election is estimated to cost taxpayers approximately $2 million.
Sam Groth resigned from Parliament on 13 February 2026. According to the Victorian Electoral Commission, this is the intended timeline for the by-election:
According to both The Guardian, The Age, and Mornington Peninsula News Group, five candidates nominated for Liberal Party preselection. These were Anthony Marsh, David Burgess, Briony Camp, Nathan Conroy, and Bree Ambry. Marsh, the mayor of Mornington Peninsula Shire was given special permission by the Liberal Party state executive to stand as a candidate, as he had only joined the party on 10 February 2026. Both Burgess, Camp, and Conroy had previously unsuccessfully stood for the Liberal Party in general elections â Burgess for the Legislative Council, Camp in the district of Hastings, and Conroy twice for the federal division of Dunkley. Ambry is a project manager with Nepean Health. The Liberal candidate for the by-election was decided by a combined vote of the eighteen members of the state executive and six members of the branch executive in Nepean, rather than by a vote of rank-and-file branch members. Marsh was ultimately the successful candidate, being preselected on 24 February 2026. According to Mornington Peninsula News Group, in the first round of preselection voting, Marsh received ten votes, Camp four, Conroy three, and Burgess two.
The Labor Party will not stand a candidate in the by-election.
Darren Hercus, a small business owner, was announced as the One Nation candidate on 1 March.
Sianan Healy, a women's health researcher, is the Greens candidate for Nepean.
Peter Angelico, a former member of the Liberal Party, is the endorsed Libertarian Party candidate for Nepean.
Tracee Hutchison, a broadcaster, writer and community advocate from Rosebud, announced her candidacy for the by-election on 8 March as an independent candidate. Hutchison is endorsed by the group Independents for Mornington Peninsula. Hutchison has opposed cuts by the Mornington Peninsula shire to programs relating to the arts, cultural heritage, and First Nations people, as well as the council's rescinding of a climate emergency declaration.