By Dessalines Ferdinand
Dotie Joseph has been holding the seat of Florida House District 108 since 2018, after defeating incumbent Rep. Roy Hardemon during the Democratic primary election, then independent candidate Riquet Caballero (L) in the general election. Two years later, she defeated former incumbent Hardemon again to easily win a second term as representative of one of Miami-Dade County’s most diverse districts in the Florida State Capitol.
As a Florida State Representative, Ms. Joseph is eligible for four consecutive terms, each two years in length. Many people describe the former Georgetown University Law Center student as a genuine, smart, and well-articulated woman, someone who cares about the entire community. But recently, those qualities came into question, even to the point that some observers asked if she, as an attorney, can act in a client’s best interest.
Ms. Dotie Joseph has been viewed by many as one of the party’s future minority leaders. In June 2019, the North Miami Democratic state Representative Joseph received some national exposure when she introduced then Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts U.S. Sen.) to the stage during a Miami town hall. Based on some unnamed reliable sources, Miami-Dade Commissioner (District 2) Jean Monestime was hoping to push her to run for his open seat. A move she declined.
With enough connections to the Biden administration, according to our sources, and at least one of her close friends, she let the people around her know that she would not seek a third consecutive term. The reason? She had received a promise to be hired for a position in Washington, DC. At that time, it appears she was confident this was a done deal. So she made the unthinkable move and began talking about not seeking that third term, long before she had even been vetted.
In the wake of this news, two well-known Haitian radio hosts seized on a major opportunity to convince former North Miami City Clerk Michael Etienne to switch from his Miami-Dade County District 2 bid to the Florida State Representative (District 108) seat, as it was seemingly suddenly ‘open.’ In the process, City North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aimé – who is also racing to replace Commissioner Jean Monestime – was also led to believe they ( 2 radio hosts) were the men capable to push Etienne out of the race. Bien-Aimé seems to worry about the presence of the former city clerk in Miami-Dade County District 2’s race. For the record, in 2021, the former city clerk gave Bien-Aimé a serious challenge in his mayoral re-election bid. There are also rumors that the two anonymous radio hosts may have enjoyed some ‘financial compensation on both sides of the game’ with regard to encouraging Etienne to switch races, even though this is difficult to prove.
Now, Bien-Aimé feels more secure in the MDC-District 2 race without Etienne involved, and Etienne only made the move based on a guarantee provided by those two radio hosts that incumbent Dotie Joseph was out. However, things did not go as expected for Etienne, as Joseph made a U-turn to run for her seat.
During a phone conversation with State Representative Dotie Joseph seeking comments regarding the subject, the daughter of well-known pastor Gonel Joseph sounded a little shocked. She denied all statements about her deciding not to run for a third term. As proof, she referred us to the website of the State of Florida elections to attest that she filed long time ago (11/16/2020) to run for a third term. Yet, to be fair, a person can file to run for a term, then withdraw or not complete the process.
To summarize, Ms. Joseph said she has been very busy working for her constituents in Tallahassee and at other government levels and she vehemently rejects the notion that she was offered a job with the Biden Administration and even claims that she never applied to interview for a job in Washington.
“Some have encouraged me to seek an appointment or even run for other political offices,” she later stated. “And I am humbled, but until the Lord gives me the green light in a different direction, I ultimately decided to continue serving in the House of Representatives.”
However, two political personalities in the Haitian Community anonymously attest that Ms. Jospeh did tell them personally that she was not going to seek a third term. It’s difficult to know who is telling the truth at this point.
Sometimes people put their cart before the horse and regret it later on. They make plans on how to spend money before they are even certain that the money will be available. This seems to be what happened with State Representative Dotie Joseph. Some define it as ‘extremely bad’ while others say it’s regrettable. Another group of observers heavily criticized her for a ‘lack of judgment as an attorney.’
One local elected official believes that Ms. Joseph did things in the wrong order by letting people know she was not going to seek a third term because of a job promise from Washington DC before she had even been vetted for the position. It’s not clear why she didn’t get hired, the source commented. That same source went on to ask why Ms. Dotie Joseph abandoned a position as Deputy City Attorney for the City of North Miami Beach with an annual salary of $160,000.
Incumbent Dotie Joseph now has to deal with the presence of the former North Miami City Clerk and former Rep. Roy Hardemon (her predecessor). It’s clear that she now finds herself in a risky situation to win her seat in this coming August’s Democratic Primary. As many observers have pointed out, if she didn’t make that faux-pas, she would have only had to worry about one opponent (Roy Hardemon), who she easily defeated twice in past elections.
Because of this ‘lack of judgment’, Ms. Dotie Joseph is likely far behind on fundraising needs. The former North Miami City Clerk purchased about $60,000 worth of radio spots on his first day running to unseat the incumbent. Though, he seemed none too happy with the two radio hosts who got him to switch his candidacy from Miami-Dade County District 2 race to the Florida House District 108 race.
At this time, Ms. Joseph faces an uphill climb to retain her seat. What should have been an easy re-election campaign may very well be a fight to merely split votes with Etienne, which would likely catapult Hardemon back to his old seat.
Lawyers succeed when they are level-headed and make smart decisions based on facts in evidence, not on speculation or hopes. Whatever happened here, it appears that either someone masterfully played Etienne or Ms. Dotie Joseph’s ambitions and career interests got the best of her and she presumed a new job offer that never came through. Either way, this is going to be a close race come August and if Ms. Joseph can’t find her footing, it’s likely she won’t be serving in the Florida House representing District 108 next January.