Barbara Ann Prince

Barbara Ann Prince, a Suwannee County resident, is running as a write-in candidate for Florida State Representative District 10, which encompasses Hamilton, Suwannee, Baker, Columbia, and Alachua counties.

Prince was born in the small town of Beaver, Pennsylvania, and received her diploma in nurses training in New Castle, Penn. at the Jameson Memorial School of Nursing. She also took nursing classes at the Pennsylvania Bible College. 

Prince moved to Manatee County, Fla., 42 years ago where she worked as a registered nurse at Manatee Memorial Hospital in Bradenton, and as the director of nursing at Suncoast Manor Nursing Home in Bradenton. In her nursing career, Prince has also managed a national healthcare staffing business in which she received a President’s Club Award for expanding the company’s staffing hours, despite never having received business training. 

“I was still able to act in a business role,” said Prince. “I think that the Lord has truly blessed me with an ability and commitment to work on special projects like that.” 

Prince retired to O’Brien in Suwannee County six years ago, and has been highly involved in local politics and church activities. In May of this year, she was approached by members of the O’Brien Tea Party who she said had issues with the current incumbent’s approach to politics. They asked Prince if she would run for state representative.

“I said ‘sure,’” Prince said. “I don’t know how that word came out of my mouth; the Lord may have put it there. I agreed to it.”

Since that time, Prince has been campaigning across District 10. If elected as state representative, Prince says that she would get back to voting by representing the people who pay her salary instead of voting according to the whims of political parties or the governor.

Prince is running as an independent Christian conservative, and she holds the U.S. Constitution, the nation’s children and their education, job creation, and wise government spending as just a few of the priorities in her platform.

If elected, Prince would work to change Common Core policies, she said.

“We need to take a stand and make a show if Common Core is going to change,” said Prince. “I want to protect our children from being exposed to inappropriate sexual things at too young an age. I want to make sure that our children all know the same math, and that they learn about the Constitution.”

Prince says that she is concerned over the amendments on the Florida ballot this year, and believes that they should not be amendments at all because they do not alter any pre-existing laws. Prince, as a registered nurse, has many concerns over Amendment 2, the medical marijuana bill.

“The bill is not written well at all,” said Prince. “There are too many loopholes. It doesn’t require the dispenser to have certain medical training and it doesn’t regulate caregivers who can pick up an order.

“The next step after legalizing medical marijuana is legalizing marijuana altogether. The drug doesn’t have an immediate reaction; studies show that there’s a peak time almost two hours after smoking it, and people can get very high very quickly without even realizing it. There’s also a market for smokeless marijuana, such as cookies, candies, cakes, and things like that. That makes it very dangerous for children who may not realize what they’re eating.”

Prince said that she doesn’t want people to be in pain or to be sick, but that there are other pain medications that have been around for years besides marijuana that have proven effective, she said.

If elected, Prince would also work to increase jobs in District 10, she said.

“There is a lack of jobs in this area,” said Prince. “You can see it in the smaller towns like Jasper or Mayo; their downtowns are closing up shops left and right. If we could attract warehouses for big stores and corporations, or any industry that offers different levels of jobs from labor to management, that would help increase our economy. More jobs would also mean that our graduates would have more incentive to stay in this area, which would help grow the economy.”

Prince lives in O’Brien with her two dogs, and she has one son and four grandchildren in Manatee County.