‘A win is a win’: Jack Batty speaks after securing Bragg in by-election to replace Vickie Chapman

New MP for Bragg Jack Batty said he treated the seat as marginal during his campaign and was not surprised by the close race.

The new Liberal MP for Bragg, Jack Batty has hit back at criticism of him narrowly scraping home in the party’s once-safe seat, bluntly arguing: “a win’s a win”.

A collapse in the Liberal vote in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs has left the party’s stronghold, and traditional heartland, a marginal seat.

Mr Batty led Labor’s Alice Rolls, 50.9 per cent to 49.1 per cent when the Electoral Commission completed counting Saturday night.

On a two-party preferred basis there was a 6 per cent swing away from the Liberals, in a margin that senior party officials admitted was larger than they feared.

But Mr Batty, 31, a former party staffer, on Sunday rejected criticisms about his narrow victory.

“A win’s a win. And as I’ve been saying, for a little while, I think we’ve all learned there’s no such thing as a safe liberal seat anymore,” he said.

Liberal MP for Bragg Jack Batty with his partner Charlotte Thomas and their dog Trooper at their home in Wattle Park. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

“And I’ve treated this seat as a marginal seat throughout this campaign that we’ve worked incredibly hard getting out into our community and finding out what matters most to them.

“There’s several local issues I’ve been campaigning on including improving freight corridors in Bragg, in particular on Portrush road and getting trucks off of Portrush road.”

He added that he was “fighting for” a new primary school for the area.

“We’ve got some of the best schools in the state, right here in Bragg but they’re bursting at the seams.”

Ms Rolls, 43, and Premier Peter Malinauskas were euphoric about Labor’s narrow loss “by a whisker”.

“You never know what to expect in a campaign and I am very, very pleased with the result. It is everything we had hoped for but it looks like I will miss out by a whisker,’’ Ms Rolls said.

Labor Candidate for Bragg, Alice Rolls, with Premier Peter Malinauskas last week. Picture: Labor

Mr Malinauskas said there had now been two “massive swings” in “Liberal heartland” in the by-election and March state election.

“There is a trend here and it is a function of our agenda, that is people orientated, moderate in its political nature, that appeals to people across the political divide and also ambitious for the people of the state,’’ he said.

Mr Batty said Ms Rolls had called him this morning to congratulate him on the win.

“Yeah, I had a call from Alice this morning, where she congratulated me on the campaign that we’ve run and what she described as my likely victory,” he said.

“It’s been a great pleasure to get to know her and her family over the last four weeks and she’s run a great campaign.”

Mr Batty replaced Vickie Chapman who won Bragg, a seat she had held for 20 years, by 17.4 per cent at the 2018 election. That was reduced to 8 per cent in March.

Last night, Ms Rolls managed to win the Liberal heartland booth of Burnside.

On primary votes there was a 7.3 per cent swing against the Liberals.

Greens candidate Jim Bastiras took 17.8 per cent of the primary vote, almost 5 per cent higher than at the March 19 state election.