It was still dark at 7am, one week into the official election campaign when I joined Tim Wilson and Zoe Daniel leafleting at train stations on the Frankston line, just two stops away from each other.
That was seven weeks ago, and only yesterday did we finally get what is almost a resolution in Goldstein.
I split my time between both candidates, catching the train between the stops, watching them try to engage with the early-morning commuters, smiling while pressing flyers into their hands, fielding questions and patting dogs.
Both were relentlessly upbeat, but Wilson had an extra edge of desperation and determination about him.
He had lost everything in the last election, and nothing could embarrass him.
Wilson gamely flagged down every commuter and didn’t flinch when voters said no to his pamphlets.
What difference did his doggedness make?
When the lead in the tally flipped from Daniel to Wilson, and then almost back again to Daniel again, it must have counted for something.
Wilson believes Goldstein’s voters admired him for not giving up, and this is what enabled him to claim victory as the ultimate comeback kid. He has spoken of sleepless nights and using his credit card to help finance his campaign.
In 2022, the teals caught him by surprise, but this time around he was prepared, spending two years building a “blue army” of Liberal supporters.
The first glimpse I caught of this army was at Wilson’s campaign launch in the Brighton Town Hall, packed with 600 supporters all wearing blue Tim Wilson T-shirts handed out at the door.
From that day, Wilson set up the campaign as highly personal, comparing Daniel at his launch to “the person in your group assignment who hasn’t done the work but still takes the credit”.
He said Daniel had failed to turn up for the community, describing an empty chair at citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day and on Anzac Day.
Wilson spent two years turning up to community events, insinuating himself as the alternative member for Goldstein, and campaigning on local issues like crime and development, even if they were not in the federal remit.
Daniel’s campaign tried to focus on the bigger picture – hosting “politics at the pub” sessions on economic reform and bringing the conversation back to climate change.
She had her own army of teal-clad volunteers and, at her launch at the Kingston Town Hall, more than 1000 turned up, chanting her name like a rock star, “Zoe, Zoe, Zoe”.
However, this was a seat fought on hyper-local issues and politics of personality.
On election night, Daniel told me the campaign had been “really dirty”.
She was subject to attack ads run by third-party groups, some with links to the Liberal Party, including Australians for Prosperity and Repeal the Teal.
During the campaign she said people screamed at her on the street and she reported harassment and stalking to police after a Facebook post identified her car in a private car park behind her electoral office.
Wilson denied any connection between his campaign and the attack ads or the personal attacks on Daniel.
He declined all invitations to debates and forums during the campaign, apart from a Jewish community forum.
With 7.1 per cent of residents in Goldstein identifying Judaism as their religious affiliation, the candidates’ position on Gaza was galvanising for many voters.
Daniel and Wilson engaged in a fiery debate at the Brighton Hebrew Congregation, where Daniel told attendees: “I will never use your pain for political gain”, while Wilson declared he was a Zionist.
Emotions flared again after anonymous letters were sent to Daniel’s supporters, who had corflutes displayed outside their homes, accusing them of being antisemitic and hating Jews.
Preying on the division in the electorate, far-right agitators turned up at pre-poll voting in Brighton and at the Hampton Primary School polling booth on election day.
Like many in the Liberal Party, Wilson preferenced One Nation as fourth on his how-to-vote cards and Trumpet of Patriots fifth. Trumpet of Patriots candidate Vicki Williams attended his victory press conference and hugged him afterwards.
Both parties spent big on the campaign, with Daniel, who disclosed donations in real time, raising $1.8 million while Wilson estimated his campaign spent $1 million.
The full cost of Wilson’s campaign and the identity of his donors will not be known for months.
There were also lighthearted moments along the campaign trail: the campaign merch which included bedazzled Zoe Daniel hats and dog bandannas, Wilson donning bunny ears to hand out chocolate Easter eggs at the supermarket and Daniel getting an endorsement from everyone’s favourite TV neighbour, Harold Bishop.
There was the morning I went to four Anzac Day ceremonies as the two candidates competed over who could lay the most wreaths.
Who can forget the “fake tradie” – Liberal Party branch secretary and campaign volunteer Frazer Hurst, who posed as a tradie in a Facebook advertisement for Wilson wearing a fluoro vest and hard hat?
He turned up to Wilson’s election night party at the Sandringham Yacht Club wearing the same outfit.
“I wore this especially for you Cara,” he said with a smile.
On election night, it was down to the wire in Goldstein, with Daniel claiming victory in a celebratory speech at her party at the Elwood Bowls Club.
However, Wilson did not concede the seat. He bided his time waiting for the postal votes to come in. They eventually delivered him the seat despite a late swing to Daniel. He won by 128 votes.
Wilson’s win was a rare bright spot for the Liberal Party in what has been a crushing election defeat across Australia.
Wilson has been hailed as the “teal slayer”, a saviour, and briefly as a potential leader of the Liberal Party.
Perhaps more prosaically, he is just one of the last men standing, the Steven Bradbury of the Liberal Party, still on his skates while others tumble around him.
Daniel’s next move is unknown. Will she call for a recount? Will this be the end of politics for her?
Whatever she does next, she has put Goldstein back in play. What was once a guaranteed, blue-ribbon Liberal seat is now one of the most marginal in the country.
Correction: An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly reported that Tim Wilson “wrangled a wreath off” one of Zoe Daniel’s supporters at a 2023 Anzac Day ceremony to lay it himself. The wreath, intended for Daniel or her representative to lay, in fact, was handed to Wilson in her absence and when Daniel’s representative appeared, the two jointly laid the wreath.