Editorial: Voters felt it incumbent to get rid of incumbents

On Tuesday, all three local commissioner incumbents with opponents were voted out. They are all Republicans, so this primary election is, likely, the actual election, though candidates are running against Brian Hamman and Cecil Pendergrass.

In Charlotte County, Commissioner Chris Constance lost his race to John Fleming, who will represent the Burnt Store and Punta Gorda area of the county. In the west part of the county, the district including part of Cape Haze and Port Charlotte, Stephen R. Deutsch was beaten by Kim Amontree.

In Lee County, a new incumbent, Commissioner Trish Petrosky, lost to Amanda Cochran, an Alva real estate agency owner. Cochran had run in 2024 but lost to the late Mike Greenwell. Greenwell, unlike Petrosky, was an elected commissioner, though he had initially been appointed by Ron DeSantis, and did not have political experience. He was a former professional baseball player.

Cochran worked very hard in her race, with a reasonable platform, and even wrote an op-ed to the Beacon on boat access. As a Republican, she won an endorsement from VoteWater, unfairly labeled as some sort of radical environmental group. The group is not some left group; it is simply a lobby that was born out of the outrage at what happened in the wake of massive die-offs in the Indian River and east part of the state in 2021 and 2022. VoteWater was founded in 2014 and later broadened its focus to clean-water advocacy.

Compared to her first race, double the amount of citizens voted, which means Cochran was able to rally a new constituency in Lee County. There are giant development pressures in Lee County; one concern for rural east Lee County was yet another mega development by Pat Neal, who is pushing for a road that will flood Manasota Key with traffic.

The idea of pulling Trish Petrosky right out of nowhere to be a Lee commissioner was a fail for DeSantis and the Lee County machine. Petrosky was appointed by DeSantis in December 2025 after Greenwell’s death. In her bio, she was listed as an executive assistant at a Christian school, and had an unfinished undergraduate degree at Liberty University in her original bio. There was no record of civic activism or community involvement, but she was merely a good person who wanted to get involved, and cared. In Boca Grande, many residents were major investors in her campaign, to the tune of thousands of dollars, not only this year but last. They have lost an advocate. 

In Charlotte County, two new commissioners will bring an entirely new look. Kim Amontree, who had served on the school board, ran an energetic campaign and was out at many a local events, talking up everyone in the area regularly at local chamber and club events. One unfair mailer from a political action committee ostensibly related to her was a sort of trick; it purported to be a Deutsch mailer, touting all of his service over the years, but the more recent photo in the mailer had him in a photo possibly sleeping.

While Stephen R. Deutsch voted for all of the Charlotte County resolutions related to Boca Grande parking, it was a “Kimberly Amontree” who actually sent a $100 donation to the public GoFundMe page of Open Shores of Southwest Florida, which is working to undo the Boca Grande parking ordinance, and has been out supporting beach access regionally. That was savvy.

In meetings, Deutsch had, if we can paraphrase, a sort of not a lot we can do attitude. That is very true, but the constituents angry about Boca Grande parking were his constituents, and it was Joe Tiseo who not only represented the county at that first toe-tapping joint meeting, but who actually came out to the island and poked around to help understand the issue. The reality is that with few options, why constrain before you begin?

The other commission race in Charlotte County was won by John Fleming, a former New York detective. He co-founded the Burnt Store Corridor Coalition, and is concerned with the level and speed of development in the county. He campaigned against the 1 percent sales tax, is for the new state homestead amendment and is against the county using Flock cameras. The Charlotte meetings will soon be must-see TV.

He campaigned the cost of living in Charlotte, and one of his campaign themes was the number of Charlotte residents who were moving out of the county because they cannot afford it. He is also all about developers paying their fair share. 

There is enormous frustration out there, and people will vote for a new path. Things are not always lining up where the political interests wish. What is clear from this Tuesday locally is that Floridians want new ideas, and tax relief, and are prepared to vote for candidates who offer some semblance of a change.

Only a few thousand votes could now change the trajectory in two large Florida counties. 

Garland Pollard is editor of the Boca Beacon. Email your letters to editor@bocabeacon.com.