Florida state Rep. Dotie Joseph throws her hat in the ring for Democratic nomination in gubernatorial election

The race for who will be the next governor of Florida has, for lack of a better term, been a snoozer in terms of drama.

With just a bit more than a month to go before the primary election on August 18, polls show Byron Donalds lapping the field for the Republican nomination while David Jolly has a solid lead among Democrats.

But state Rep. Dotie Joseph recently injected new life into the race when she announced her intention to challenge Jolly. She did so after Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings dropped out after a cancer diagnosis. Joseph tells CBS News Miami voters deserve another choice come the November election, and that, admittedly, her choice to run is a surprise to herself as it is to many others.

"This was not a decision I made lightly. I listened to families, small businesses, owners, and you know, in a sense, it was a surprise because this was not on my bingo card a month ago," she said.

To be clear, Joseph said she respects anyone willing to raise their hand to serve. But she said after talking with neighbors and looking at the field, she thinks she has plenty of experience to assume the governorship.

"What I would add is I offer something different. I am a battle-tested Democrat with a solid record of fighting for the issues that matter most to working families, whether you're a Democrat or not, whether we're talking about affordable housing, healthcare, quality education, these are things that have been a seminal component of all of my service in the legislature," she said.

Jolly, for the record, has raised $6 million for his campaign, and that number is still growing. He's even already picked a running mate. And the Republican field is well-funded, to boot. Joseph, however, believes she can close the gap.

"The one thing that I have learned in Florida is that it's not just money that makes the decision. It's the voters. That's the only reason the money matters is because that's what people use to communicate. Now, if voters learn about you in other ways, that is a way for you to communicate as well. And I believe, as people, even if they're getting their ballot and they're just Googling the candidates, I think they're going to find out quite a bit about me versus the other candidates, and have a real option," she said. "I know what it means to work with this particular legislature, and I'm somebody who's ready to show up on day one to do the job. At the end of the day, I trust voters to look at our records. Mine shows I've consistently put people first, and this is the kind of leadership that I'm offering."

Joseph has spent the last eight years in Tallahassee, her timeline aligning with that of the administration of outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis; he won't be running for governor again this year due to term limits outlined in the Florida Constitution. She provided some insight into what she's seen with Republicans controlling both the governor's mansion and the state legislature.

"Sometimes they play nice with each other, sometimes they don't, and that is demonstrated in how we interact. In terms of vetoes, I think you'll find that they're going to be disproportionately geared towards Democratic districts because of, unfortunately, some of the pettiness that we see in Tallahassee," she said. "What would be different for me is I will not operate that way. I seek to use some of the strategies I did throughout the legislature, which is to collaborate with my colleagues."

Joseph also reflected on her time in office thus far.

"In my first couple years of the legislature, I probably passed more bills than many Republicans, despite being a minority in the minority party in the legislature, and that was just a testament of people being willing to really roll up their sleeves and tackle real issues," she said. "That has changed over time, and partially, possibly because of the current governor's various runs for higher office, that may have tainted the kinds of legislation that we brought forth, and when I say we, not we in the Democratic Party that the legislature was dealing with, because it was focused on culture wars. People are tired of culture wars. I'm tired of them. I'm tired of culture wars at home, foreign wars abroad. I want to focus on us, and that would be the distinguishing characteristic of my governorship."

Joseph also discussed the recent Supreme Court ruling that extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians for at least another two weeks, giving those who have called South Florida home for more than a decade a bit more time to figure out what's next.

"I am concerned about what happens next," she said. "People need to understand the relationship between immigrants and our economy; they're quite frankly the reason that our economy stays afloat. Not just TPS holders, but immigrants across the board. When we think about the contributions of, let's just say just TPS holders, we have a situation where you have billions of dollars that are coming in the state. Tn the state of Florida, $1.8 billion comes in annually to our state economy just from TPS holders. Florida is home to 158,000 TPS holders, and they are key components to a lot of our critical components of our economy. Whether we're talking about agriculture, healthcare, tourism."

"And it's not that they're taking anybody else's jobs," Joseph added. "So when we do these things, we're the ones making it harder on ourselves. Once you do this with TPS holders, you're going to create immediate labor shortages. The more we continue to attack immigrant communities, we're making everything more expensive for us."