The Aug. 28 ballot is a big one, and today we’re taking a look at a few key races for the folks hoping to represent SoFlo in Tallahassee.

While there are a bunch of other state house and senate races on the ballot, only a handful of them are truly competitive. We chose three of them – all of them Democratic primaries – to dig in on.

In both Florida House Districts 108 and 113, whoever wins the Democratic primary is likely to coast to a win in the general election – they’re both very blue districts (although the District 108 race features a Libertarian challenger Riquet Caballero and District 113 includes Republican Jonathan Parker).

Meanwhile, Senate District 38 has no Republicans running, period, so whoever wins on Aug. 28 will be the next representative (and because there are no Republican challengers, anyone living in District 38 gets to vote in the primary, not just Democrats).

Instead of a formal questionnaire we checked in on the candidates’ positions on a few key issues based on questions we received from you, our readers.

• House District 108: Joseph Beauvil, Dotie Joseph and Roy Hardemon (the incumbent)
• House District 113: Michael Grieco, Kubs Lalchandani and Deede Weithorn
• Senate District 38: Jason Pizzo and Daphne Campbell (the incumbent)

Thanks to Olga Cormier, Kathy Hersh, Kelsi Stine-Rowe, Alissa Farina, Jemar Souza, Chris Caines, Anne Hemingway Feuer, and several others for your questions and comments.

We’ll continue adding to our Aug. 28 voter guide as we head into early voting on Monday.

Next up: the U.S. Congress District 27 primaries and the gubernatorial candidates. Still to come: the judicial candidates.

We’re already published profiles on the school board and the county commission candidates, and we’ve also already broken down the referenda for Miami and Miami Beach residents.

Exhale. We may be heading into peak hurricane season, but NOAA says you can chill a bit – the chances of a major hurricane happening this year have gone way down. Why? The Atlantic is cooler than they expected, wind patterns are weird, and the Pacific is warmer than they thought it would be. (Miami Herald)

Gridlock ahead. The South Florida Regional Planning Council just gave a thumbs down to both the American Dream Miami mega mall and the southwest extension of the 836 expressway – both of which recently got initial approval from the Miami-Dade County Commission. The council’s criticism is mostly symbolic because it has no real authority, but it comes just after Sen. Marco Rubio urged the federal government not to approve the expressway extension, so things are looking a little touch and go for the expressway, at least. (Miami Herald)

We knew this was coming. Biscayne Park police recently admitted to framing several black residents for crimes they didn’t commit in an effort to up the department’s case clearance rate. They were caught and indicted, and now one of the teens who was framed is suing the cops who did the framing, plus the police department as a whole. (Miami New Times)

A Republican in donkey’s clothing? The Miami-Dade Democratic Party doesn’t usually take sides in primary races, but the letter they sent this week to Florida Sen. Daphne Campbell, who is running for re-election in District 38, sure makes it sound like they’re ready to ditch her. A mailer went out earlier this week that lists Campbell alongside a bunch of Republican candidates, and the Democratic Party wants to know what’s up with that – and whether Campbell had anything to do it. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Campbell called the cops on a Miami Herald reporter who was asking her questions. The police didn’t agree with Campbell that asking questions – as one does when they’re a reporter – constituted “threatening behavior.” (Miami Herald, Twitter)

Fact check, please? U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson says that Russian hackers are already in some of Florida’s election offices. State and local election officials are scratching their heads, because they say they’ve seen no proof of that. When federal officials were asked about it, they pointed to reports that Russians infiltrated our voting systems in 2016, but when pressed on Nelson’s 2018 claims, they basically said “hard pass.” 🤷(Buzzfeed News)

Home run. Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, who have basically made a career out of putting Miami’s absurdities on the big screen in phenomenal documentaries like “Cocaine Cowboys,” have reached a new level of cinematic domination: their latest doc will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. “Screwball” is about the steroid scandal that sidelined then-Yankees player Alex Rodriguez and led to the most drug-related suspensions in pro sports history. (Instagram, Miami New Times)

Not so sweet now. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis shook up some traditional political alliances in the Sunshine State this week when he took a big swing at U.S. Sugar, a regular GOP donor. Why’d he throw them under the bus? Because the sugar industry (aka Big Sugar) has played a key role in the algae crisis that’s wrecking our waterways right now, and they’re a major donor to his opponent, Adam Putnam. The blue-green algae in the St. Lucie River is currently 10 times the level that is considered too hazardous to touch. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who reps part of South Florida, took big chunks of cash from U.S. Sugar just a month and a half ago, when algae had already started spreading across the surface of Lake O. (Politico, TC Palm, Miami New Times)

THAT’S ALL FOR THIS WEEK.

But if you’re looking for something to do tonight, this eating and drinking itinerary for a night out in Wynwood is a pretty solid option.

– The New Tropic