Under Napthine's leadership, the Liberal Party did poorly in the polls and made no significant electoral inroads on the ruling Labor government. Shortly before the 2002 state election, Shadow Health Minister Robert Doyle challenged Napthine for the leadership of the Liberal Party. Doyle won the leadership by a narrow margin. At this election, Napthine ran in South-West Coast, essentially a reconfigured version of Portland. Although it was ancestrally Liberal territory, Napthine only managed to hold onto the seat with a significantly reduced margin which fell from 4.9 to only 0.7 points. He was re-elected in November 2006 with an increased margin.