LIB 1.0%
Incumbent MP
Rachel Sanderson, since 2010.
Geography
Central Adelaide. The electorate covers the Adelaide city centre, as well as the suburbs of North Adelaide, Ovingham, Fitzroy, Thorngate, Medindie, Medindie Gardens, Gilberton, Walkerville and parts of Prospect, Nailsworth and Collinswood. Adelaide covers the entirety of the City of Adelaide, a majority of both Prospect and Walkerville council areas, and small parts of Charles Sturt local government area.
The electorate of Adelaide has existed since early in the 20th century. The seat was dominated by the ALP prior to 1989. Since 1989, the Liberal Party has held the seat for four out of six terms.
The seat of Adelaide was held by the ALP continuously from 1944 until 1989.
In 1989, the Liberal Party’s Michael Armitage won the seat. Armitage served as a minister from 1993, and retired in 2002.
In 2002, the ALP’s Jane Lomax-Smith, a former Lord Mayor of Adelaide, defeated the new Liberal candidate. Lomax-Smith was re-elected in 2006, and over her two terms served in a variety of ministerial roles.
The Liberal Party’s Rachel Sanderson defeated Lomax-Smith in 2010, and she was re-elected in 2014 and 2018.
- Rachel Sanderson (Liberal)
- Lucy Hood (Labor)
- Deanna Carbone (Animal Justice)
- Tom Birdseye (Real Change)
- Robert Walker (Family Party)
- Sean Cullen-Macaskill (Greens)
Assessment
Adelaide is a very marginal seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Rachel Sanderson | Liberal | 10,226 | 47.2 | -2.1 |
| Jo Chapley | Labor | 7,750 | 35.8 | +0.5 |
| Robert Simms | Greens | 2,739 | 12.6 | +0.7 |
| Betty-Jean Price | Dignity | 946 | 4.4 | +1.1 |
| Informal | 487 | 2.2 |
2018 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Rachel Sanderson | Liberal | 11,043 | 51.0 | -2.0 |
| Jo Chapley | Labor | 10,618 | 49.0 | +2.0 |
Booths in Adelaide have been divided into three areas: central, north and south.
The Liberal Party won 53% of the two-party-preferred vote in the north and 54.3% in the centre. Labor won 60.6% in the south.
| Voter group | GRN prim % | LIB 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| North | 10.0 | 53.0 | 7,999 | 33.8 |
| South | 20.3 | 39.4 | 4,228 | 17.9 |
| Central | 10.8 | 54.3 | 3,521 | 14.9 |
| Other votes | 11.9 | 54.6 | 5,913 | 25.0 |
Election results in Adelaide at the 2018 South Australian state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal Party, Labor and the Greens.
Greens candidate is no longer Karina Natt. A last minute candidate change isn’t a good sign for them in their most winnable seat, and it probably hurts Labor’s chances too.
Karina Natt is now in Perth as a Chief of Staff at the Minderoo Foundation – Walk Free.
Honestly, having been involved with Natt professionally I believe it is a good thing for the Greens, but immense shame about the timing. Not the first time I have viewed Natt walk out on something she committed to. Feel sorry for the candidate who hasn’t had a decent run at it.
Draft boundaries for the 2026 state election are due to be released in a little over a week if they stick to the proposed redistribution timetable. Snuck up on me as I had heard nothing about it until a few weeks ago. I do wish the eastern states in particular would adopt SA’s policy of a redistribution after every state election as they have much faster growth rates and some areas fall out of quota very quickly.
The Liberals aren’t winning this back with David Speirs. He’s too conservative and isn’t really in-touch. The Liberals need a new leader in SA because at this point they’ll lose to Peter Malinauskas’ popular Labor government in a landslide.