The Victorian Liberal Party state executive voted on Friday, 17 July 2026 to disendorse Moira Deeming as a candidate for the November 2026 state election. The decision removes Deeming from the number 1 position on the Liberal Party ticket for the Western Metropolitan region. In a statement, the party confirmed: "Tonight the Liberal Party state executive decided to cancel the endorsement of Moira Deeming for the number 1 position in the Western Metropolitan region" (The Guardian).

Deeming currently sits in the Victorian upper house representing the Western Metropolitan Region and has served approximately four years as a Liberal MP (AFR). Her removal from the ticket means she will lose her parliamentary seat after the November election unless she mounts a campaign as an independent.

The disendorsement follows a protracted internal conflict. On 15 July 2026, Deeming sent a 12-page statement to the party's state executive offering a mediation proposal that would have allowed her to end a supreme court action she had filed against the party. The following day, 16 July, she dropped the eleventh-hour legal challenge, which had been directed at Victorian Liberal Party president Brian Loughnane.

The party had been preparing for a courtroom fight. On 3 July 2026, the Victorian Liberal Party requested and was granted an expedited court hearing for Deeming's matter (Victorian Liberal Party). Two days earlier, on 1 July, Opposition Leader Brad Battin issued a statement announcing that the state executive would meet to consider Deeming's candidacy (Victorian Liberal Party).

The immediate backdrop to the legal dispute centers on an allegation Deeming made against fellow Liberal MP Matthew Guy. Deeming accused Guy of grabbing her in a headlock at a function in May 2026. She subsequently retracted the characterization, claiming she had "misunderstood the meaning of headlock" regarding the incident. CCTV footage from the function showed Guy placing his hand on Deeming's upper back as they leaned in to talk. Victoria Police investigated the report and concluded there was "no offence detected" (The Guardian).

The parliamentary ticket itself has already seen disruption this cycle. Deeming had initially been ousted from the number one preselection spot in March 2026 by Dinesh Gourisetty.

The party's financial and legal exposure to the Deeming matter extends beyond the current dispute. In June 2025, the Liberal Party Administrative Committee decided to pay Deeming $1.55 million owed to her by John Pesutto following a defamation case (Victorian Liberal Party).

Looking at what this means for the November 2026 state election, the disendorsement resolves the immediate legal threat to the party organization but leaves the Western Metropolitan ticket in flux. The party executive has now replaced its incumbent upper house member less than four months out from polling day. The broader context here is the cumulative institutional cost: the Liberal Party has absorbed a substantial defamation payout, navigated a supreme court challenge, and weathered a police investigation into an altercation between two of its own MPs, all within a single electoral cycle. Whether Deeming chooses to run as an independent will determine whether the party faces a direct electoral threat from a candidate it has now formally cut loose.