‘We need somebody who’s focused on us:’ Dotie Joseph makes her play for governor

Florida Politics admin June 12, 2026 0 Comments

‘We need somebody who’s focused on us:’ Dotie Joseph makes her play for governor

State Rep. Dotie Joseph launched a surprise run for governor on Thursday, injecting new life into a Democratic primary that just one day earlier appeared all but wrapped up for former Congressman David Jolly.

Joseph’s bid comes a week after Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings left the race due to a cancer diagnosis, leaving Jolly as the only established Democrat in the running to succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis. She said she initially had no intentions to run, but with Demings dropping out, she wanted to give Floridians who are weary of politics as usual another option.

“We’re tired of the culture war, we’re tired of the fear mongering, we’re tired of money being spent on foreign wars,” she said. “We’re tired. We want to focus on us. We have real issues here.”

Joseph said she wants to focus on making Florida affordable for residents who’ve seen the cost of housing and groceries rise. She added while she respects Jolly’s turnaround from Republican to Democrat, “his record speaks for itself.” And while she respects Republican frontrunner Byron Donalds as a person, she said she does not respect his record

“It’s not about partisanship, it’s not about Democrat or Republican, it’s about who prioritizes the needs of people,” said Joseph, whose time in the Florida House overlapped with Donalds’.

Joseph also criticized the inability of lawmakers to work across the aisle to pass legislation that would help residents rather than focusing on the priorities of special interests.

“With the polarization that has happened over the course of the past eight years, that has been increasingly more challenging,” she said. “I think the people feel it, and it shows up in everything.”

Born in Haiti, Joseph came to South Florida when she was a toddler and lives in North Miami, home to a large Haitian-American enclave. A graduate of Yale University and Georgetown University Law Center, Joseph has served as president for the Haitian Lawyers Association.

Joseph was first elected to the Florida House in 2018 and served as Minority Leader pro tempore from 2022 to 2024. She represents House District 109, which includes parts of northern Miami-Dade County.

Joseph has championed legislation that allowed domestic violence survivors to collect unemployment in the event they needed to leave a job under threat of an attacker. She also worked on a wide-ranging police reform bill in the wake of Georgia Floyd’s death that included training standards, a minimum age of arrest for children and a duty to intervene if an officer was doing things that they shouldn’t.

While Joseph’s political record has largely been built in the Florida House, she’s also worked in government as a legal intern in the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, a law clerk for Superior Court of the District of Columbia Eugene Hamilton and as a deputy city attorney for the city of North Miami Beach.

Joseph said she hopes to address affordable housing and livable wages, including increasing Florida state worker pay, if elected.

“I’m just here for us, and we need somebody who’s focused on us,” she said. “I’m here to make an impact, and to the extent that the voters are willing to give me a shot at fighting for them.”