THEY both won double-digit primary votes as well known Singleton identities but Shooters candidate Sue Gilroy admits her party and One Nation may have made it easier for the Nationals.
There was a 10 per cent swing against the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers with Ms Gilroy, a nurse and business owner, claiming 12.0 per cent of the primary vote, well short of the party's 2019 result achieved by Upper Hunter councillor Lee Watts.
However in that general election, One Nation did not run. In this by-election the party's candidate, Singleton businessman Dale McNamara, claimed 12.46 per cent of the primary vote.
Ms Gilroy and Mr McNamara were two of the more recognisable faces among the 13 candidates for voters in and around Singleton.
One Nation had also been in the spotlight on the back of Stuart Bonds' success as a candidate for the federal seat of Hunter in 2019, but on the eve of the by-election he left the party and endorsed Ms Gilroy's campaign.
"It's disappointing for us with so many independents and One Nation, it split the vote and didn't work in our favour," Ms Gilroy said on Sunday. "We almost made it a bit easier for the Nationals.
"We were both well known Singleton locals, so it was always going to be a risk. So certainly if One Nation hadn't run, it would have improved our result."
One Nation's NSW party leader Mark Latham said Mr McNamara had "achieved a good primary vote" and laid out a "strong policy agenda for pro-coal jobs and bringing mining royalties back into a neglected seat".
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Ms Gilroy said it was "pretty clear" that the Nationals David Layzell would claim victory but she felt having a "Melbourne Cup-like field" of candidates had put more pressure on the Coalition.
"At the end of the day the Upper Hunter won anyway," she said. "It looks like they're going to be successful in making sure that they deliver on what they've promised.
"If myself or one of the others had of got in, it would have then been a case of holding them accountable.
"Are they going to be accountable to themselves?
"That's going to be the big question now."
The first-time state candidate said she would put her hand up to contest the next general election.
