Wagga Labor candidate Keryn Foley pleased with strong showing in state election

And while Labor did not take the seat of Wagga, Labor candidate Keryn Foley made a stronger than expected showing in a tight three-cornered contest this year.

At the time the counting stopped on Saturday night, Ms Foley was third in the race with 13.89 per cent of the first preference votes, closely trailing the Nationals candidate Andrianna Benjamin on 14.46 per cent and ahead of Liberal Julia Ham on 12.95 per cent.

At the Labor after-party on election night, Ms Foley said she was "absolutely thrilled" with both her showing and more importantly the party win.

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She agreed that she could be riding the red wave of Labor rolling across the country as "fed up" voters move away from the coalition government after 12 years in power.

"That's democracy in action," she said. "People want the roads fixed, people are tired of inaction."

What's most pleasing, she said, is that the people of Wagga will now benefit from the pre-election promises made by Labor, such as upgrades to the Edmondson Street Bridge and $5.7 million for Wagga roads.

Head of Riverina Labor, and former candidate for the federal seat of Riverina, Mark Jeffreson said he was "dancing on air" at Labor's victory and for Ms Foley's performance throughout the campaign.

"I'm absolutely thrilled for us tonight, we've had a terrific result here in Wagga," he said.

As more votes are tallied come Monday, Mr Jeffreson said the party would "regard second place [for Ms Foley] as a terrific result and at this stage third place quite good for us".

But "the bigger picture is more important", he said, a change of government does not come by very often and Labor's victory is significant.

Labor romped home in the end, with ABC election specialist Anthony Green calling the contest before 8pm.

The ALP took 45 of the 93-member seats in the lower house when the counting stopped on Saturday night.

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