I’m local, he’s my state M.P. The reason he was re-elected was because he was (and undoubtedly still is) extremely popular with the kind of people who live in this part of the world - by which I mean (mainly) white and well-off. He’s without doubt one of the slimiest most vile and repugnant people I’ve ever met, but he has this base he’s built in almost Trump-like way that loves him. Women of a certain age defend his every action on the local FB groups and are giving off very Trump-like vibes about the verdict (“how could the jury do this?” etc). He will, of course, appeal the verdict because he has literally nothing to lose by doing so.