Cheltenham – SA 2026

ALP 19.1%

Incumbent MP
Joe Szakacs, since 2019.

Geography
Northwestern Adelaide. Cheltenham covers the suburbs of Alberton, Athol Park, Beverley, Cheltenham, Findon, Pennington, Queenstown, St Clair, Woodville, Woodville North, Woodville South, Woodville West and parts of Rosewater. Most of the electorate lies in the Charles Sturt council area, as well as a small part of the Port Adelaide Enfield area.

Redistribution
No change.

History
Cheltenham has existed since the 2002 election. Cheltenham was a new name for Price, which had existed since 1985.

Murray De Laine won Price at the 1985 election. When the electorate was renamed Cheltenham, De Laine was challenged for Labor Party preselection by Jay Weatherill.

De Laine resigned from the ALP in 2001, and contested the seat as an independent, polling 9.7% and losing to Weatherill.

Weatherill was appointed to the ministry following the 2002 election, and served in the ministry through the 2006 and 2010 elections.

After the 2010 election, Weatherill challenged ALP deputy leader Kevin Foley unsuccessfully.

Weatherill replaced Mike Rann as Premier in 2011. He led Labor to a fourth term at the 2014 election, and continued as Premier until his party’s defeat in 2018. He retired from parliament in late 2018.

The subsequent by-election was easily won by Labor candidate Joe Szakacs. Szakacs was re-elected in 2022.

Candidates

Assessment
Cheltenham is a very safe Labor seat.

2022 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Joe Szakacs Labor 13,027 55.6 +2.4
Shane Rix Liberal 5,730 24.4 +2.7
Steffi Medrow Greens 2,545 10.9 +4.6
Alex Tennikoff Family First 1,513 6.5 +6.5
Mike Lesiw Independent 633 2.7 +2.7
Informal 888 3.6

2022 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Joe Szakacs Labor 16,194 69.1 +2.4
Shane Rix Liberal 7,254 30.9 -2.4

Booth breakdown

Booths have been divided into three parts: central, north and south.

Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 68.1% in the south to 71.7% in the north.

The Greens came third, with a primary vote ranging from 9.7% in the south to 12.4% in the centre.

Voter group GRN prim ALP 2PP Total votes % of votes
North 12.1 71.7 6,713 28.6
Central 12.4 68.8 4,866 20.8
South 9.7 68.1 3,943 16.8
Other votes 9.5 67.5 7,926 33.8

Election results in Cheltenham at the 2022 South Australian state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party and the Greens.

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