By Simone Whitfield | M•I•A MEDIA GROUP
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tamar N. Hamilton, a Jamaican-born attorney who has called Broward County home for more than 25 years, has won election to the circuit court bench, advancing a legal career that includes private practice, teaching and service as a special magistrate.
Hamilton defeated David Andrew Fry in the Nov. 3 runoff for the 17th Judicial Circuit’s Group 52 seat, receiving approximately 53.8% of the vote, according to unofficial results. The circuit announced her election Nov. 4 and said she will be sworn in in January 2027.
Her victory brings an attorney with experience in civil litigation, real estate and probate matters to a court system whose decisions reach deeply into residents’ lives. Circuit courts handle felony prosecutions, major civil disputes, and family and juvenile matters, placing their judges at the center of some of the most consequential proceedings in Florida’s justice system.
“I am deeply humbled and honored by the trust the people of Broward County have placed in me,” Hamilton said in a statement announcing her election. She credited faith, perseverance and community support for helping her reach the bench.
Hamilton graduated with honors from St. Thomas University School of Law and brings more than 12 years of legal experience to her new position. She also serves as an adjunct law professor at the university and is the immediate past president of the Jamaican American Bar Association.
According to her campaign biography, Hamilton founded the Law Office of Tamar N. Hamilton, P.A., handling civil litigation, property, probate and contract disputes. Her work has included contested hearings and bench trials. As a special magistrate, she has evaluated evidence, heard arguments and issued recommended rulings.
Her teaching responsibilities have included legal research and writing, mortgage foreclosure, real estate transactions and law office management. Her campaign also described mentoring aspiring attorneys and providing internships as part of her work beyond representing clients.
Throughout the campaign, Hamilton emphasized listening carefully and treating people with dignity. Her platform connected those principles to the practical weight of judicial decisions: the consequences for families, livelihoods and people navigating unfamiliar legal proceedings. Those were campaign commitments; her courtroom record will now become the measure of their delivery.
The election was nonpartisan, with Broward voters choosing between Hamilton and Fry, an assistant public defender and former prosecutor. Hamilton emerged with a clear majority in the unofficial count.
For Hamilton, January will mark the transition from advocating for clients to deciding cases. The responsibility ahead extends to every person who enters her courtroom — and to earning public confidence through the decisions she makes.