On Friday, 17 July 2026, the Victorian Liberal Party voted to remove Moira Deeming as one of its candidates for the November 2026 state election. The party took her off the top spot on its list of candidates for the Western Metropolitan region. In a statement, the party said: "Tonight the Liberal Party state executive decided to cancel the endorsement of Moira Deeming for the number one position in the Western Metropolitan region" (The Guardian).

Deeming is currently a member of Victoria's upper house, which is one of two chambers that make laws in the state. She represents the Western Metropolitan Region and has been a Liberal MP for about four years (AFR). By losing the party's backing, she will not appear on the November ballot as a Liberal. She could still run as an independent — a candidate with no party affiliation — but without that, she will lose her seat.

The decision came after months of fighting within the party. On 15 July 2026, Deeming sent a 12-page letter to the party's leadership offering a deal: she would drop a lawsuit she had filed against the party if they could reach an agreement. The next day, 16 July, she withdrew the lawsuit, which had been aimed at Victorian Liberal Party president Brian Loughnane.

The party had been getting ready for a court battle. On 3 July 2026, the Victorian Liberal Party asked for and received a fast-tracked court hearing for Deeming's case (Victorian Liberal Party). Two days before that, on 1 July, Opposition Leader Brad Battin announced that the party's leadership would meet to discuss Deeming's future as a candidate (Victorian Liberal Party).

The legal fight started over an accusation Deeming made against another Liberal MP, Matthew Guy. She said Guy had grabbed her in a headlock at a party event in May 2026. She later took back that claim, saying she had "misunderstood the meaning of headlock." Security camera footage from the event showed Guy putting his hand on Deeming's upper back as they leaned in to talk. Victoria Police looked into the report and said they found "no offence detected" (The Guardian).

The party's candidate list had already been shaken up earlier in the year. In March 2026, Deeming had been bumped from the top candidate spot by Dinesh Gourisetty.

The party has also faced a financial hit tied to Deeming. In June 2025, the Liberal Party decided to pay Deeming $1.55 million that was owed to her by John Pesutto after a defamation case — a lawsuit where someone claims their reputation was damaged by false public statements (Victorian Liberal Party).

The broader context here is the toll all of this has taken on the party. In one election cycle, the Liberal Party has paid out a large defamation settlement, dealt with a Supreme Court challenge, and gone through a police investigation into a dispute between two of its own MPs. Removing Deeming from the ticket ends the immediate legal threat, but it leaves the party without a clear candidate in Western Metropolitan less than four months before the election. Whether Deeming runs on her own as an independent will determine whether the party now has to compete against someone it once supported.