The Orange deputy mayor is well-known in his home city, but does not yet have the same recognition further east in the federal electorate.

"I'm here, on the ground," he said during a visit to Bathurst this week.

"I've been walking the streets of the CBD and speaking to as many people as I can with their issues. My objective is to find out what the people want."

But is he well enough known in Bathurst? "I can't answer that," he said, "that will be up to the people."

Mr Romano's main challengers for Calare are incumbent Nationals MP Andrew Gee and Labor's Jess Jennings - who, as a Bathurst councillor, has a high profile in the east of the electorate but not in the west.

Asked if voters were right to assume their electorate would be better off if they elected someone who was likely to be in government, Mr Romano pointed to his Shooters colleague Phil Donato, the state member for Orange.

"He holds the government of the day to account," he said. "Accountability is an issue not to take lightly, particularly if it's a hung parliament."

And he said Mr Gee, while in government, had said he would push for a better road over the Blue Mountains.

"And what's happened there?" Mr Romano asked.

Mr Romano said he would not be taking sides no matter the election result, "but I will be negotiating for my electorate in every way I can".

While in Bathurst, Mr Romano continued one of his campaign themes: the disconnect, he says, between Calare voters and their MP.

"It's something the people have said to me over the past week of campaigning," he said. "I've had a lot of people say to me he's [MP Andrew Gee] never seen."

Mr Romano says his election priorities include water security, infrastructure and childcare costs.