David Murray Labor 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.

[1][2] Hamilton had been won by Labor with 58.6% of the vote when it was first contested at the 1927 state election.

[3] 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.

[4][5] 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.

[6][7]