The president of the Victorian Liberals, Philip Davis, has warned his party to unite ahead of the 2026 election or “we will be in a crisis”, after he survived a leadership challenge.

Davis defeated his immediate predecessor, Greg Mirabella, in a vote at the Victorian Liberal party’s state council at Moonee Valley racecourse on Saturday by 493 votes to 404.

The result is a major win for the Liberal moderate grouping, after Davis’s entire ticket also retained their positions on the party’s powerful administrative committee (which was then renamed the “state executive”).

The showdown followed a campaign described by one party member as the “nastiest, most toxic” they had been involved in. Victorian Liberal party shapes up for ‘nastiest, most toxic’ state council in years amid leaks and

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