Illinois REALTOR® Sandy Hamilton, of RE/MAX Professionals in Springfield, received an unexpected Christmas gift. She was selected by the Sangamon County Republican Central Committee to complete the term of recently resigned State Rep. Mike Murphy (R-Springfield), who stepped down from his 99^th District seat in the Illinois House early last month.

Hamilton begins her term this week when the Illinois General Assembly returns to Springfield for its spring legislative session. She will be representing the southwest half of Springfield and most of western Sangamon County until the November 2022 elections.

Hamilton, whose real estate career spans 24 years, specializes in commercial leasing/sales, residential and new construction. She is a major investor in the REALTORS® Political Action Committee (RPAC).

Balancing her successful real estate career with being a mom of three boys and coaching women’s volleyball at Sacred-Heart Griffin High School (SHG), has prepared her for this new challenge.

“I’m looking forward to this endeavor, it will enable me to work on addressing matters that I’m passionate about, which includes everything from property taxes to property management to homelessness to education,” said Hamilton. “I think I’m pretty prepared for it.”

For the past three years, Hamilton has gained valuable experience by serving on the Springfield Economic Development Committee. Her term ends next month.

She had planned on slowing down a bit, stepping down from a successful career as SHG’s girls volleyball team coach. But almost days later she started receiving telephone calls about the 99^th District seat. They were trying to determine her interest in the position and ability to replace Murphy.

“I know there’s a learning curve but I’m ready for it,” said Hamilton. “I’ve talked to a lot of people. It will be hard, require a lot of work and studying but that will be similar in many ways to the long coach’s hours where I was analyzing information and engaging the parents and her student athletes.

Hamilton serves on the Capital Area REALTORS® and the Commercial Real Estate Network (CREN).

Hamilton began her real estate career after graduating from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She had a successful career as an Illini student/athlete and there is an award named after her called the Sandy Scholtens Award given to the student/athlete who exemplifies hard work and determination. She and her husband, Bob, an electrical engineer with AT&T and Athletic Director for Christ the King school, have three boys.