1928 Hamilton state by-election

1928 Hamilton state by-election

8 September 1928

Electoral district of Hamilton in the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Registered17,398
Turnout70.9% ( 14.1)
  First party Second party
 
Candidate James Smith Walter Skelton
Party Labor Protestant Labour
Primary vote 5,851 4,851
Percentage 48.0% 38.8%
Swing 10.6 31.5
TCP 51.2% 48.8%
TCP swing 51.2 48.8

MP before election

David Murray
Labor

Elected MP

James Smith
Labor

The 1928 Hamilton state by-election was held on 8 September 1928 to elect the member for Hamilton in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, following the death of Labor Party MP David Murray.

Hamilton had been won by Labor with 58.6% of the vote when it was first contested at the 1927 state election. However, Labor lost more than 10% of its vote at the by-election and only narrowly retained the seat against Protestant Independent Labour Party candidate Walter Skelton, with James Smith elected with 51.2% of the two-candidate-preferred vote. Skelton would have likely won if all Nationalist Party voters exercised their second preferences, something they were not required to do under the optional preferential voting system.