Judge Bronwyn Catherine Miller faces a retention vote for her seat on the Florida Third District Court of Appeal on Nov. 3, 2026. The nonpartisan race asks voters a simple yes or no: should Miller keep her seat?

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."

Candidate information

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

Education: Miller said in our questionnaire: "University of Miami School of Law (J.D. 1997) Barnard College at Columbia University (B.A. 1994, Political Science)." According to the Third District Court of Appeal's judicial profile, she earned her juris doctor cum laude.

Family: Miller said in our questionnaire, "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)."

Experience and public service

Miller said 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."

Asked about previous offices, Miller said, "… I was appointed to all three positions. I ran a contested election for County Court in 2006 and won. I was subsequently retained without opposition for Circuit Court and was retained for the Third District in 2020."

According to Ballotpedia, Miller was retained in 2020 with 74.9% of the vote.

Judicial Qualifications Commission proceedings: In October 2025, the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission filed formal charges against Miller, according to NBC 6 South Florida. The commission found probable cause she violated judicial canons by sending text messages to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle about the post-conviction resentencing of a defendant Miller had originally prosecuted. Miller self-reported the matter and denied violating any judicial canon. In December 2025, her lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing a First Amendment right to speak freely in private communications. No public outcome from the scheduled April 20, 2026, hearing on the motion appears in available records.

On the issues

Accomplishments: Asked what accomplishments show she can handle the job, Miller said in our questionnaire, "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."

How prior roles shaped her appellate work: Miller said in our questionnaire, "… 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. … We are not permitted to give the parties a 'redo' on the facts."

Digital evidence and AI: Asked what the public should understand about appeals courts adapting to digital evidence, Miller said in our questionnaire, "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."

The race is a retention election. The general election ballot will ask Miami-Dade and Monroe County voters whether to retain Miller on the Third District Court of Appeal.