Levy's more than 53.2 percent vote total marks the first time in over 24 years that any judicial candidate in Broward County has been successful in a three or more person primary election. By obtaining more than 50 percent of the vote in the three-way race, Levy avoids a run-off election in November.
Levy, a 36-year-old Fort Lauderdale, Fla. attorney in private practice for 10 years, is also a traffic court magistrate. "I hope to bring compassion and fairness and the sense that everybody in my courtroom is being treated equally," said Levy after the election.
"Jill has set the bar higher in Broward politics by her well financed and well run campaign," said Broward County Democratic chairman Mitch Ceasar in a television interview.
Levy attended Ogden Elementary School in Valley Stream, Woodmere Middle School and graduated from Hewlett High School in 1987. She graduated from Adelphi University in Garden City in 1992 before attending the University of Miami Law School where she earned her degree in 1996. Her parents, Diane and Jay Levy, still live in Hewlett Harbor.
The newly elected Broward County Court judge assumes her new post on Jan. 7 with a six-year term.
