Teal independents could win 5 seats at the Victorian state election - will it happen?

Two groups are looking to back candidates in two key seats.

New polling suggests 4 Liberal-held seats - including Kew & Brighton - are at risk of being lost to independents at the Victorian election.

The polling was commissioned by Climate 200, the group that backed teal independents at the federal election, according to The Age.

5 seats could go to an independent - Hawthorn, Kew, Sandringham, Caulfield & Brighton.

Speculation surrounds whether teal independents could run in 6 other seats - Box Hill, Ashwood, Nepean, Bullen, Hastings & Mornington.

Several of those seats are part of the federal Kooyong and Goldstein electorates, won by teal independents Monique Ryan & Zoe Daniel respectively.

6 News understands that polling conducted by RedBridge in Caulfield - which included asking voters if they knew who Zoe Daniel was and whether they'd vote for a candidate like her, or the current member, David Southwick - began early last month.

In the five seats targeted, the overall polling showed a drop in people voting Liberal, although in the marginal seat of Hawthorn, there was also a drop in people voting Labor.

The result in all seats saw an independent win on a two-candidate-preferred basis.

Two groups have been set up to back independents - Hawthorn Independents & Kew Independents.

Hawthorn is a marginal Labor seat, won by John Kennedy from the Liberals at the 2018 election, while Kew is held by retiring Liberal MP Tim Smith.

Kew Independents spokesperson Hayden O'Connor told SpinCheck he'll be on the selection committee for a candidate, which he says is "the same process that selected Monique Ryan."

He said the names of other people on the committee will not be made public unless they chose to reveal it themselves.

Brent Hodgson from Hawthorn Independents also spoke to SpinCheck, saying he'd "love" the support of Climate 200 but has not approached them, adding the group should "absolutely" have a candidate chosen by the end of August.

Watch the full edition of SpinCheck here.

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