Albury councillor Raissa Butkowski has been preselected by the Liberals to run for Farrer, with the community lawyer tasked with holding on to the seat vacated by Sussan Ley after 25 years in parliament.
Ms Butkowski beat her only rival for preselection, former Ley staffer Lachlan McIntyre, 36 votes to 27 at a vote held on Sunday afternoon at Albury Entertainment Centre.
The Liberals are the last major party to pick a candidate for the May 9 by-election, with One Nation choosing David Farley, the former chief executive of the Australian Agricultural company earlier this month.
The Nationals last week preselected former military commander Brad Robertson, while independent Michelle Millthorpe – who secured 20 per cent of first preference votes in last year’s federal election – will also contest.
The vote shapes as a major test for new Coalition leaders Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan, with One Nation outperforming the Nationals and Liberals in multiple polls in 2026.
Despite One Nation securing just 6.6 per cent of first preference votes in Farrer last year, the minor party’s polling has shot up in recent months – with a Newspoll released earlier this month showing One Nation was backed nationally by 27 per cent of voters, above the Coalition at 20 per cent and just five points shy of Labor at 32.
The Australian understands Ms Butkowski, a senior lawyer at Hume Riverina Community Legal Service who was first elected to her local council in 2024, benefited from broad support from the conservative and centre-right factions of the party.
Ms Butkowski, who has three degrees, said Ms Ley “leaves big shoes to fill”.
She added she was “humbled to be preselected, but know there’s a lot of hard work ahead”.
Ms Butkowski and Mr McIntyre, a former senior electorate adviser who worked for Ms Ley for more than seven years, were the only two vying for Liberal preselection after other local figures, including state MP Justin Clancy, decided not to run.
Labor won’t contest the by-election for the regional seat, which covers the southwest of NSW along the Victorian border.
Ms Ley, the first woman to lead the Liberals, resigned from parliament last month after 25 years following her loss in a leadership spill to Mr Taylor.
It’s understood Ms Ley stayed out of the preselection process.
She had represented Farrer since 2001 when she won the seat from the National Party, which had held it since 1984.
Lachlan LeemingNSW Political Correspondent