General News
21 April, 2026
Lethlean, Armstrong fly flag
TWO of regional Victoria’s “worst kept political secrets” were confirmed this week with the Nationals naming Andrew Lethlean and Jo Armstrong as candidates in two key seats at the November state election.
By CHRIS EARL
TWO of regional Victoria’s “worst kept political secrets” were confirmed this week with the Nationals naming Andrew Lethlean and Jo Armstrong as candidates in two key seats at the November state election.
Mr Lethlean will challenge Premier Jacinta Allan in Bendigo East while Cr Armstrong will attempt to knock off first-term Labor backbencher Martha Haylett in Ripon.
The endorsement of the high-profile pair comes as Nationals members will meet in Kerang on Wednesday night to select a successor to Peter Walsh in Murray Plains who will retire at the election after 24 years in Parliament.
A third candidate emerged last Wednesday when solicitor and former Victorian Young Liberals president Alex Lew said he would vie for endorsement against Victorian Farmers’ Federation president Brett Hosking and Loddon Mayor Dan Straub.
Mr Lew was Young Liberals president for two years and sat on the party’s Victorian administrative committee.
He later challenged future Parliamentary leader Michael O’Brien in the seat of Malvern and then was elected to Stonnington City Council where he was found to have breached the councillor code of conduct after complaints from Labor and Greens councillors and banned from social media, a finding later quashed by the Supreme Court.
Announcing his bid, Mr Lew said today: “While maintaining strong ties to the land, I work off-farm as a regional prosecutor with the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions, travelling across Northern Victoria to prosecute serious crime, assist local police, support vulnerable victims, and help keep our community safe.”
Mr Lethlean was the Nationals candidate in the federal seat of Bendigo last year where he had a 9.8 per cent swing away from Labor MP Lisa Chesters.
Speculation had been high for the last year that Mr Lethlean would take on the embattled Ms Allan with analysis of Bendigo East booth figures from the federal election indicating Ms Allan could lose her seat that takes in Dingee, Serpentine and Campbells Forest.
Party leader Danny O’Brien formally announced Mr Lethlean as candidate at a function in Bendigo on Monday night.
Mr O’Brien headed to Ararat on Tuesday to officially lift the lid on Cr Armstrong as the Ripon candidate.
She is a former Ararat Rural City mayor and had been touted as the party’s candidate for many months.
Mr Lethlean and Cr Armstrong were the only nominations for Nationals preselection.
The Liberal Party is yet to name candidates in either seat with Ripon back to the drawing board after Andrew Kilmartin withdrew within days of his endorsement in December.
Read More: Loddon Shire