Paul Toole to embark on a fourth term after declaring victory in Bathurst

Mr Toole declared victory on Saturday night after less than 20,000 votes had been counted, however, his strong performance made him untouchable.

As of 9.30pm that evening, he had received 53.1 per cent of the first preference votes, while Cameron Shaw, his next closest competitor, had received just 16.8 per cent.

READ ALSO:

The results mean a fourth consecutive term for Mr Toole.

He was surrounded by his family, friends, staff and Nationals Party supporters on Saturday night as he celebrated the win.

He felt like the Nationals went into the election campaign as the underdogs and, although the Coalition lost the state, he was proud of the performance of the Nationals candidates.

"The National Party has actually had quite strong swings towards it in a number of our seats," he said.

"You have a look at first-timers like Coffs Harbour and Dubbo; they've had strong swings towards them. Even in Bathurst, we're looking at around about a five per cent swing.

"I think it's important that if you continue to turn up and you continue to deliver and hear what the community's needs are, then they are actually backing you in."

Mr Toole will be facing a new challenge, though, as this is the first time he will be in opposition as the Member for Bathurst.

However, he has pledged to keep fighting for Bathurst and to hold the Minns government accountable if regional NSW does not get its fair share over the next four years.

"I think [NSW Labor] are going to be bloody scared of me now, because they know that I know a hell of a lot about regional NSW and they know barely anything, so I'm going to certainly be up their ribs for the next four years and I'm going to be terrifying them," he said.

"... we'll make sure that we continue to fight for our community and our regions. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to make sure Bathurst's not forgotten and we keep getting the investment we deserve in this area."

He said, for now, the Bathurst electorate is fortunate to have a long list of projects coming that the Liberal-Nationals government had invested in prior to the election.

These include the $200 million redevelopment of Bathurst Hospital, the construction of a multipurpose service (MPS) in Blayney, and the major upgrade to Centennial Park in Bathurst.

"I'm proud of what we've delivered. I'm proud to actually see that, even a lot of projects that we've announced haven't started, but the investment's there," Mr Toole said.

"We'll be building the projects that we've delivered over the next three to four years which are still important in the local area, and I want to make sure that they are done right for the local community."

Although he is no longer deputy premier, Mr Toole said he enjoyed serving in that role for 17 months and he is now looking forward to spending a little more time at home with his family.

He also did not rule out running for a fifth term.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: