![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/86199004007-county-commissionersl-001.JPG\")
<\/a><\/p>\nArtis says her nickname \u2013 which will appear on the ballot \u2013 stems from her Jamaican roots.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the parish we were from one of my great-grandmothers was a queen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean royalty. A parish queen is a representative of one of 14 Jamaican parishes. The title traces back to \u201cQueen Nanny\u201d who lead the Maroons, formerly enslaved west Africans who at the beginning of the 18th century fought a successful guerrilla war against the British.<\/p>\n
Modern \u2018queens\u2019 since the early 1960s are selected from each precinct based on beauty and cultural awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe short answer is that a lot of people can\u2019t pronounce my name,\u201d she jokes.<\/p>\n
Artis had originally been a candidate for Supervisor of Elections. She switched races during qualifying week in June to challenge incumbent Commissioner Brian Hamman.<\/p>\n
Hamman has been a commissioner since 2013 when he was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott to replace Tammy Hall, who resigned facing charges of using campaign funds for personal reasons.<\/p>\n
Artis says she is running to make sure growth is responsible, infrastructure keeps pace, clean water is protected, and residents can see exactly how county decisions are made.<\/p>\n
![\"DeMaria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/92247472007-princess-candidate.jpg\")
\u201cHe\u2019s never really been challenged before,\u201d Artis said of opponent incumbent Commissioner Brian Hamman.<\/p>\n
Hamman kept his seat in 2022 with only a write-in opponent. Write-in candidates\u2019 names do not appear on the ballot.<\/p>\n
In 2018 Hamman drew no opposition at all, earning an automatic victory. The 2014 field was a crowded one, with Hamman winning a 3-way Republican primary and then winning election in the general election.<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/89506249007-fort-myers-city-council-032.JPG\")
That was the only competitive campaign Hamman has ever had.<\/p>\n
Artis says that she is a health care professional working toward becoming a nurse practitioner. She said her husband and mother-in-law also work in natural medicine.<\/p>\n
Artis said she and her husband currently live in District 3 with their two young daughters. She would have to move into District 4 if elected. She said she has lived in Fort Myers for about 10 years and was married in 2019.<\/p>\n
A real outsider, Artis says<\/p>\n
\u201cIn general people will say \u2018Who is she?\u2019\u201d Artis said. \u201cI\u2019m just an everyday person. I was never an insider and never will be. A commissioner shouldn\u2019t be a political person.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am someone with no political background,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is a lot to learn. If I were elected commissioner the job description would not impact my personal beliefs. I am a strong believer in the people\u2019s voice and the people\u2019s needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Artis is being vastly outspent. Hamman has raised $105,599 compared to just $11,860 for Artis. She has received only a handful of small checks.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of this has been out of my pocket,\u201d she said. \u201cIf people want change, they can\u2019t just keep feeding the political machine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Artis stresses transparency and accountability. She said her other priorities such as water quality, infrastructure and smart growth go hand-in-hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day we cannot avoid growth,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not rational to think we won\u2019t grow. But the infrastructure has to grow as well. It has to keep pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Artis says a home is not affordable if a family cannot afford to insure and maintain it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe county cannot set insurance rates, but it can stop approving avoidable risk, protect natural flood storage, maintain drainage, and make smarter decisions about where Lee County grows.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said her approach is grounded in facts, public input, affordability, and long-term consequences, that she is running to make sure growth is responsible, infrastructure keeps pace, clean water is protected, and residents can see exactly how county decisions are made.<\/p>\n
She said she supports the at-large voting system the county currently has, not the single-member districts referendum that appears on the same ballot.<\/p>\n
She repeatedly preaches smart growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not anti-growth or pro-growth at any cost,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m pro-responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you have an opinion about this topic? Write a letter to the editor and send it toletters@naplesnews.com<\/a> and\/or mailbag@news-press.com<\/a>. Keep it to 250 words or fewer and include your contact info. Have more to say: Send a guest column of no more than 600 words. \u2060<\/p>\n Charlie Whitehead covers Lee County and Fort Myers. Reach him at cwhitehead@gannett.com<\/p>\n Please support local community journalism and stay informed about Southwest Florida news by subscribing to The News-Press and Naples Daily News; download the free News-Press or Naples Daily News app, and sign up for daily briefing email newsletter, food & dining and growth & development newsletters at news-press.com or naplesnews.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oct. 16, 2026, 10:00 a.m. ET DeMaria \u201cPrincess\u201d Artis is running as a No Party Affiliation candidate for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1468,209,211,210,47,112632,1804,1805,923,380,11168,77,491,7393,381,46374,1531,308,307,50,921,44,1533,35,34],"class_list":["post-430878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-accesspremium","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-fl","tag-sourcefort-myers-news-press","tag-sstsnewspoliticselections","tag-sstsnelections","tag-tagcampaigns-elections","tag-tagcape-coral","tag-tagecology-environment","tag-tagfort-myers","tag-taggovernment","tag-taggrowth-development-swfl","tag-taglee-county","tag-taglee-county-commissioners","tag-taglocal-elections","tag-taglocal-news","tag-tagoverall-negative","tag-tagpolitics","tag-tagrepublican-party","tag-tagrick-scott","tag-tagstate-and-local-elections","tag-tagstory-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}