Who is Jess Wilson? The millennial Liberal leader on the cusp of history in Victorian election
News Source
β’Fri, 30 Oct 2026 14:00:19 GMT
π° What Happened
Jess Wilson, the 36-year-old Victorian opposition leader, is profiled ahead of a November state election in which polling puts her Coalition ahead of Labor 52-48 on a two-party preferred basis. A DemosAu survey in September gave her the highest personal rating of any Victorian leader at +8, against Premier Ben Carroll on -14.
π The Backstory
Wilson was first elected in 2022, but politics runs in the family: her father, Ron Wilson, held the seat of Bennettswood from 1999 to 2003, and she joined the Young Liberals while studying law and arts at Monash. A March video of her in bathers leading Liberal MPs through mock Commonwealth Games events drew more than 2 million views and revived scrutiny of the $600m cost of cancelling the 2026 Games.
π― Why It Matters
If the polls hold, Wilson would become Victoria's youngest leader since federation and the first woman popularly elected as the state's premier, something neither Joan Kirner nor Jacinta Allan achieved. Her personal popularity is now the Coalition's main asset, with campaign material branded 'Jess Wilson's Liberal Victoria' and her face rarely absent.
Jess Wilson, the 36-year-old Victorian opposition leader, is profiled ahead of a November state election in which polling puts her Coalition ahead of Labor 52-48 on a two-party preferred basis. A DemosAu survey in September gave her the highest personal rating of any Victorian leader at +8, against Premier Ben Carroll on -14.
Wilson was first elected in 2022, but politics runs in the family: her father, Ron Wilson, held the seat of Bennettswood from 1999 to 2003, and she joined the Young Liberals while studying law and arts at Monash. A March video of her in bathers leading Liberal MPs through mock Commonwealth Games events drew more than 2 million views and revived scrutiny of the $600m cost of cancelling the 2026 Games.
If the polls hold, Wilson would become Victoria's youngest leader since federation and the first woman popularly elected as the state's premier, something neither Joan Kirner nor Jacinta Allan achieved. Her personal popularity is now the Coalition's main asset, with campaign material branded 'Jess Wilson's Liberal Victoria' and her face rarely absent.