ADAM Marshall has won the hotly contested Nationals preselection battle for Northern Tablelands.
The former Gunnedah mayor ousted challengers, former National Farmers Federation president Jock Laurie and Nationals staffer Claire Coulton in a vote in Armidale today.
The Nats are expected to win back the seat at the May 25 by-election after 13 years in the hands of Independent Richard Torbay.
Mr Torbay flagged his intentions to quit State Parliament last year in order to run for the federal seat of New England for The Nationals.
But his exit from Macquarie Street was hastened last month after the party dumped him from the ticket and allegations concerning Mr Torbay were referred to the State's corruption watchdog.
It's also brought forward a by-election that has been on the cards since last year but was tipped for October up until Mr Torbay's shock resignation.
Mr Marshall, who has been working to build his profile across the electorate in the past nine months, said he was "humbled" by the show of support from local Nats members.
About 173 of the 600 Nationals members in the electorate participated in the vote - several more than voted in last week's preselection vote for New England won by Barnaby Joyce.
Mr Marshall was just 19 when first elected to Gunnedah Council, became deputy mayor at 22 and was mayor at 23 - the youngest mayor in the State at that time.
He finished his four year stint as mayor last September, during which he also served as chair of the NSW Country Mayors Association and senior vice president of the Shires Association of NSW.
While pleased with the preselection win, Mr Marshall said he had only cleared the first hurdle to winning Northern Tablelands.
He planned to be back on the campaign trail at farmers' markets in the Armidale district on Sunday morning and says he has already identified local health services and roads as priority issues for the electorate.
Mr Marshall said he was unrattled by media reports this week that he had been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption by former Inverell mayor and ex NSW Farmers president Mal Peters.
"I have absolutely nothing to hide and I will stand against my record and my integrity every day of the week," Mr Marshall said.
NSW Nationals chairman Niall Blair said Mr Marshall was a strong candidate but the party was taking nothing for granted.
A campaign office had already been established in Armidale and would be operating by Monday.
"Adam has been campaigning hard across the electorate in the lead up to the preselection and he'll be ramping up his efforts again for the next five weeks," said Mr Blair in a statement.
Challengers for Mr Marshall at the by-election could include Armidale Dumaresq mayor Jim Maher who told The Land last week he was considering entering the race.
Dr Maher, an adjunct senior lecturer at the University of New England, said he would decide within the week whether to run as an Independent.
Long time UNE academic and Armidale's deputy mayor Herman Beyersdorf has already nominated to run for Country Labor and told The Land it was not a "given" the Nats would take the seat.
Nominations for the by-election close on May 9.
