Judge Bronwyn Catherine Miller is on the Nov. 3 ballot for retention to the Third District Court of Appeal, which covers Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. The nonpartisan race asks voters to answer yes or no on whether to keep her on the bench.

Asked why she is running, Miller said in our candidate questionnaire: "My current term expires in January 2027, therefore I must seek retention to continue serving. I thoroughly enjoy serving the community as a judge and look forward to continuing to promote stability, transparency, and evenhandedness in the administration of justice."

Miller said the race "is strictly a retention election so I do not have opposition. It is merely a 'yes' or 'no' vote."

Candidate information

Party: Miller said in our questionnaire: "All judges are non-partisan."

Education: Miller listed her education as "University of Miami School of Law (J.D. 1997)" and "Barnard College at Columbia University (B.A. 1994, Political Science)."

Family: Miller said: "I am married to Maury Udell, a civil attorney, whom I met at the University of Miami, and we have three children together, Miles (age 17), Rayna (age 15), Liam (age 10)."

Miller said she is "the only member of my family who currently works in politics or government."

Experience and public service

Miller described her work history in our questionnaire: "I have served as a judge for the past twenty-one years. Prior to my appointment to the bench, I was an assistant state attorney at the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office and an adjunct professor at Florida International University. I am currently a judge on the Third District Court of Appeal and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law."

She added: "I was appointed to the Third District in 2018 and retained by the electorate of MIami-Dade and Monroe Counties in 2020. I served from 2005-2010 as a County Court judge and from 2010-2018 as a Circuit Court judge."

Governor Jeb Bush appointed Miller to Miami-Dade County Court in 2005, Governor Charlie Crist appointed her to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in 2010, and Governor Rick Scott appointed her to the Third District Court of Appeal in 2018, according to the court's website. Voters retained her in 2020 with 74.9% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia.

Miller also faces judicial conduct charges. In October 2025, the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission filed formal charges against her, finding probable cause she violated judicial canons by sending text messages to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle regarding the post-conviction resentencing of Corey Smith, a defendant Miller had originally prosecuted in 2004, NBC 6 South Florida reported. Miller self-reported the matter and denied violating any judicial canon, according to NBC 6. Her lawyers filed a motion to dismiss in December 2025, arguing a First Amendment right to speak freely in private communications.

Asked about accomplishments, Miller said: "I have nearly thirty years of experience as an attorney and judge. I have presided over thousands of cases, handling a wide variety of cases, including probate, family, criminal, civil, dependency, delinquency, guardianship proceedings."

On the issues

How prior roles shaped her appellate work: Miller said: "Putting aside the substantive knowledge I gained, my time on the trial bench has allowed me to understand firsthand the challenges faced by our trial bench, including the limited resources, high case loads, juror shortages, lack of law clerks, and the emotional and mental drain that accompanies handling tragic disputes and rendering hundreds of decisions every week." She added: "We are an error-correcting court, not a factfinding court."

Digital evidence and technology: Miller said: "Artificial Intelligence will dominate the legal landscape in the coming years. It will radically transform the way we approach legal work and challenge the traditional evidentiary principles we follow."

Best advice received: Miller said: "Remember that you cannot control whether you are the smartest person in the room but you can control whether you are the hardest working."