VOTERS across the Mid-North Coast went to the polls on March 23 in the state election for New South Wales.

Port Macquarie's Leslie Williams and Oxley's Melinda Pavey, both of the Nationals, will be aiming to retain their seats.

In the race for the seat of Port Macquarie are:

The electoral district of Port Macquarie has existed since 1988. It was won by the Nationals at every election from 1988 to 1999. The seat was first won by Bruce Jeffery.

The 1996 by-election, after Nationals MP Wendy Machin retired, was won by the Nationals' Rob Oakeshott. He was appointed a shadow minister in the Liberal-National opposition after the 1999 election.

During his second term he became disenchanted with the Nationals, finding significant differences between his ideology and Nationals policies. He resigned from the party in 2002 and was re-elected as an independent at the 2003 and again in 2007. In 2008 he resigned to contest the federal seat of Lyne.

The seat was won in 2008 by independent Peter Besseling. He won with 54.5% of the two-party-preferred vote over the Nationals candidate. 

In 2011, Besseling was defeated by Nationals candidate Leslie Williams. Williams was re-elected in 2015.

In the race for the seat of Oxley are:

The electoral district of Oxley has existed since 1920, with the exception of the 1988 election. It was a three-member district from 1920 to 1927, and since then has been a single-member district. It has been held by the Country/National Party continuously since 1965.

The 1988 redistribution abolished the seat of Oxley, and created the seat of Port Macquarie. Bruce Jeffery contested and won the new seat. In 1991, Oxley was again restored, and Jeffery returned to his original seat.

He was succeeded by Andrew Stoner who was elected National Party leader following the 2003 election.

Stoner became Deputy Premier after the Liberal-National Coalition won power in 2011. Stoner resigned as Deputy Premier and Nationals leader in October 2014.

Stoner retired in 2015, and he was succeeded by Melinda Pavey, who had been a Nationals upper house MP since 2002.