The Bass electorate appears to have voted to retain incumbent Liberal MHR Bridget Archer, bucking a long-standing trend six elections in the making.
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Bridget Archer declared victory over Labor candidate Ross Hart at the Trevallyn Bowls Club about 9pm on Saturday.
Her win marks the first time in more than 30 years that a Liberal incumbent has retained the seat. It also marks the first time in seven election cycles that the incumbent has retained Bass.
As of 11pm last night, Ms Archer was leading the vote with a AEC projected two-party preference of 50.84 per cent, compared to Mr Hart's 49.16 - a swing of just 0.43 per cent.
With tallying still underway, it remains to be seen how close the race truly was compared to when the two faced off in 2019 and Ms Archer won narrowly.
At the Trevallyn Bowls Club, Ms Archer greeted a cheering crowd of Liberal supporters and teared up as she began her speech, saying she was "really overwhelmed".
"I want to say thank you to everyone in this room who has supported me over the last six weeks and the last three years," she said.
Meanwhile at the Invermay Bowls Club, Mr Hart left about 10pm, but has not yet officially conceded the race.
Ms Archer attributed her election win to her connection to the people of the Bass electorate.
"I hope that the people of Bass see themselves in me, that we're not disconnected and that the person they chose to serve them is one of them," she said.
That message was reflected in Ms Archer's election campaign, which ran a more personal approach focusing on her individual record rather than her party's policy platform.
This was seen by some as an attempt to distance herself from the low popularity of her party's leader, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who she crossed the floor against several times in her first three years as an MHR.
With that in mind, Ms Archer's political ads took a more local and personal slant, often featuring well-known Bass residents providing testimonials to her achievements thus far in the role.
Pushing against Ms Archer's media campaign was an attack campaign run by the Australian Christian Lobby, which targeted her and other MPs in marginal seats who voted against the Religious Discrimination Bill earlier this year.
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Adding to this, Mr Hart's campaign sought to combat Ms Archer's character-based approach to canvassing by continually referencing that "a vote for Bridget Archer is a Vote for Scott Morrison".
In contrast to Ms Archer's campaign, Mr Hart's canvassing effort maintained an issues-based focus, with a heavy emphasis on health care, cost of living and Labor's Bass-based project and funding commitments.
That message appears not to have resonated with Bass voters, however, who bucked the nationwide swing towards Labor. When asked how she would work with a Labor government, Ms Archer said she already had worked constructively across the aisle in her first term.
"I believe that good ideas are found everywhere and my job is to represent the people of Bass. I've done that over the last three years and I'll continue to do that," she said.
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