Tuesday, Aug. 20 isn’t the big day. But it is a big day.
Voters all over Florida will head to the polls to cast a ballot in the primary, setting the field for the Nov. 5 general election. Incumbent Republicans like U.S. Sen. Rick Scott will have to fend off opponents from their own party before moving on to November. Others, like U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who didn’t draw primary challengers will soon know their general election opponents.
Some races down the ballot will be decided Tuesday. For example, in the Hillsborough County District 3 school board race, voters will decide between Myosha Powell, who was endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Jessica Vaughn, who’s been backed by the Florida Democratic Party.
A winner could be chosen in school board races with more than two candidates if a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote. If not, the top two finishers advance to the general election.
With so many results set to pour in, here are the major storylines to focus on.
In the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell has benefited from support from her national party. When President Joe Biden came to Tampa to campaign, Mucarsel-Powell was the only Democrat in her race who spoke at the rally. Others were not offered time.
Scott has largely ignored the Democrats other than Mucarsel-Powell, training much of his fire on the former U.S. representative from South Florida. In multiple cities, Scott has paid for mobile billboards calling Mucarsel-Powell a “socialist” — a label the Democrat vehemently denies.
Mucarsel-Powell is running against former attorney Brian Rush, Navy veteran and technology executive Stanley Campbell and Army veteran Rod Joseph.
Scott faces two primary challengers, Keith Gross and John Columbus. Both Mucarsel-Powell and Scott are expected to cruise to victory.
Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign committee has reported about $14.4 million in fundraising, according to the Federal Election Commission. That’s more than 10 times what her three opponents’ committees have raised combined. Scott, one of the richest members of the U.S. Senate, has loaned his campaign more money than his opponents have raised put together.
“I know that I can defeat Rick Scott, and that’s what I’ve been focusing on, but we need to get through the primary first,” Mucarsel-Powell said in an interview this month. “I’m not taking anything for granted.”
Campbell appears to be Mucarsel-Powell’s closest competitor. In June, the labor group Florida AFL-CIO endorsed him, and he’s loaned his campaign $1 million.
In an interview, Campbell said it was clear the Democratic Party had picked Mucarsel-Powell as its preferred candidate early on.
“It’s hard enough fighting the battles of an election, but it’s much more difficult when you have to go against (Senate Democratic Leader) Chuck Schumer in your race.”
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Scott’s team, meanwhile, is projecting confidence. They claim that few voters know who Mucarsel-Powell is and that she could be in for an embarrassing showing.
“The fact that Stanley Campbell’s name comes first on the ballot is a real fear for her,” said Scott political adviser Chris Hartline.
For years, Florida’s Republican governor has made partisan control of local education policy one of his top priorities. In 2022, DeSantis endorsed 30 candidates, and 80% of his picks won.
This year, DeSantis is following that effort with a slate of 23 endorsements. In a July post to X, DeSantis wrote that his preferred candidates “have pledged to serve with a focus on student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency.”
Five of his picks this cycle come in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. In Hillsborough, the board is mostly composed of registered Democrats; DeSantis is hoping to change that.
Three of DeSantis’ candidates have just one opponent, meaning their races will be decided Tuesday. There’s Hillsborough’s District 3 race between Powell and Vaughn. Incumbent Laura Hine will have to fend off a challenge from the DeSantis-backed Danielle Marolf in Pinellas’ District 1. And DeSantis’ pick Erika Picard is hoping to unseat Eileen Long in Pinellas’ District 4.
Edwin Benton, a professor of political science and public administration at USF, said Tuesday gives Democrats an opportunity to showcase how serious they are about contesting races up and down the ballot.
“It’s very important for the Democrats to show up, because in past elections, they have been unenthusiastic,” Benton said.
Every major election cycle, prognosticators, journalists and voters spend months poring over polling data hoping to glean insights into American politics. Who will win the presidency? How will voters decide on major consequential constitutional amendments about abortion and legal marijuana?
In theory, Florida’s primaries, held a dozen weeks before Election Day, offer a real-world look at how motivated people are to get to the polls. Surely an August election offers insight into how people will vote, right?
Not exactly, political experts say.
“I wouldn’t really look too closely at turnout numbers for August and draw any conclusions about what it might mean for November,” said Michael Binder, a professor at the University of North Florida who runs that institution’s public opinion research lab.
First, there’s the issue of no-party-affiliated voters. Although dedicated citizens who don’t belong to a party will vote in Tuesday’s primary, they won’t be able to choose Democratic or Republican candidates in high-profile races for Congress. Instead, they’ll be left to pick local school board members, judges and other municipal officials.
That means we will learn almost nothing about the millions of no-party-affiliated Florida voters who don’t show up Tuesday.
Many who are affiliated with a party will also skip Tuesday’s primary. Those who vote in primaries are typically the most dedicated political observers in the state, Binder said.
General elections in November are decided by everyone else.
• • •
2024 primary voter guide: Over 100 local candidates on the issues: Here’s who’s running for office and their stances on abortion, immigration, local schools and more.
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — The engines are revving for one final day of high-stakes bidding and family fun at the South Florida Fairgrounds.
Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach auction reaches its grand finale today with an action-packed “Super Saturday” lineup, promising to close out the weekend with a full slate of collector car sales, live entertainment, and fan attractions.
“Super Saturday,” presented by Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, officially kicks off at 8 a.m. when gates, food courts, and the exhibitor marketplace open to the public.
For those unable to attend, the whole event will be livestreamed throughout the day on the Barrett-Jackson website and the HISTORY channel from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Today’s finale comes on the heels of a high-energy Friday that saw significant sales and notable celebrity interest.
Star power was evident throughout the day, particularly with vehicles tied to the Busch family. A 1957 Ford Thunderbird Convertible owned by Samantha Busch and a 1969 Oldsmobile 442 Custom Coupe were among the day’s heavy hitters, each fetching $159,500. Kyle Busch’s 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Custom Coupe also drew a strong bid, selling for $143,000.
Other Friday highlights included:
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With a festival-style atmosphere and high-profile sales driving momentum, organizers expect a busy crowd for the final push at the auction block today.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A quiet Monday turned into a frantic race against time when a deputy stepped in to save a choking 1-year-old’s life.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a call about a 1-year-old baby choking. Upon arrival, the responding deputy performed life-saving procedures to help the child breathe again.
See also: Two arrested after 6-year-old arrives at Florida school with bruises, deputies say
Body camera video shows a deputy holding the baby, flipping it over on its stomach, and beginning to pat the baby’s back.
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When the baby begins to cry, the deputy is heard saying, “he’s good.”
Weyman Dorsett knew something went wrong with his mom’s surgery as he watched an ICU doctor review her medical charts.
“I’ll never forget and it’ll never leave my mind, the look on that doctor’s face as he was reading through the files,” Dorsett, 53, said. “… He was just shaking his head, like: ‘what in the living hell is going on?’”
His mother, 70-year-old Dorothy Dorsett, was in recovery after a surgeon removed a tumor from her digestive tract. But she was hardly eating and had an abnormally fast heartbeat, according to a lawsuit Dorsett later filed. She was moved to the ICU nearly a week after the surgery.
“She just started really spiraling, pain,” Dorsett said. “She was not my mom.”
She died days later, on Aug. 4, 2023.
About a year later, another patient, William Bryan, 70, died after the same surgeon operated on him.
The surgeon, Thomas Shaknovsky was arrested this week, accused of accidentally removing Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen, prosecutors said. Shaknovsky operated on both Dorothy Dorsett and Bryan at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach.
Shaknovsky and his lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment. However, he has denied wrongdoing in Dorothy Dorsett’s case in court filings of his own, arguing that some of the allegations were inaccurate and that descriptions of Dorsett’s care were incomplete. The lawsuit remains ongoing.
Do you have a story to share? Email reporter matthew.lavietes@nbcuni.com or reach us at our tip line.
The hospital did not immediately return a request for comment. Earlier this week, Macdonald Walker, a spokesperson for Ascension Sacred Heart, said in a statement that Shaknovsky “was never a Sacred Heart Emerald Coast employee and has not practiced at any of our facilities since August 2024.”
Weyman Dorsett filed a lawsuit against Shaknovsky and Ascension Sacred Heart last year, accusing the doctor and hospital of negligence. He spoke out for the first time since his mother died in an interview with NBC News on Thursday.
“I’ve got two boys, a wife, now a grandbaby, and you know, I’m trying to be there for them, but, man, I’ve struggled mentally in dealing with it,” he said. “It’s just not right.”
On July 24, 2023, Dorothy Dorsett was admitted to the hospital after suffering abdominal pain, Weyman Dorsett, said. At the time, he said his mom was “in great health.”
“She was going non-stop. She lived on her own, drove everywhere, she went all over,” he said. “Prior to the surgery, she flew to my oldest son’s wedding in Bentonville, Arkansas, with a broken leg from a car wreck.”
At the hospital, his mom was diagnosed with gastrointestinal bleeding and acute blood loss anemia, according to the civil complaint.
The next day, the Dorsett family met Shaknovsky, whom Weyman Dorsett described as “odd.” He said the doctor prayed by his mom’s bedside before the surgery.
“It was way over the top,” Weyman Dorsett said. “It was very insincere to me.”
He said his mother thought Shaknovsky was “very weird.”
That day, Shaknovsky performed a colonoscopy and found a tumor in Dorothy Dorsett’s digestive tract, which he removed on July 27, 2023, according to the complaint.
During the surgery following the colonoscopy, Shaknovsky did not perform a routine test, which would have ensured there were no leaks in a newly joined intestine, according to the complaint.
Shaknovsky told the family that the surgery “went great,” Weyman Dorsett said, but his mother’s condition immediately started to deteriorate.
He said that his mom was moved to the ICU on Aug. 2, 2023.
Weyman Dorsett left that night, but his mother called him to come back to the hospital at midnight, saying she was going to die.
“My mom looked at me and just said, ‘It is what it is. I’ve lived a good life,’” he said. “And I had to sit there and watch her die.”
On Aug. 3, 2023, a doctor on call, Dr. Chun W. Chen, documented Dorothy Dorsett’s condition, according to the complaint, noting that he saw “more air than I would expect postsurgical” and mentioning concern “for bowel perforation specifically around the chain sutures in the pelvis.”
Chen added in the report that pockets of air had formed around Dorothy’s pelvis, according to the complaint.
“Although this may be postsurgical, cannot exclude bowel perforation,” he wrote.
Chen said in a brief phone call that he didn’t remember the patient and declined to comment further.
That evening, Shaknovsky documented in a daily progress note the air and fluid collection in Dorothy’s pelvis, according to the complaint.
Shaknovsky did not advise surgical intervention due to Dorothy’s declining organ function and risks associated with anesthesia, the complaint says.
Dorothy Dorsett was pronounced dead at 5:29 a.m. on August 4, 2023, according to the complaint. She passed away surrounded by family, the complaint says.
“Until you go through it yourself, and to be there with my mom and watch her suffer, and to be there when she takes her last breath has been devastating,” Weyman Dorsett said. “I suffer every day. It’s a haunting memory that I can’t erase out of my mind.”
On Aug. 21, 2024, prosecutors allege that Shaknovsky accidentally removed William Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen during what was scheduled to be a laparoscopic splenectomy.
Shaknovsky, who had been licensed to practice medicine in several states, had his Florida license suspended about a month after Bryan’s death. Later that year, he voluntarily surrendered his license to practice in Alabama. New York then suspended his license in 2025.
Bryan’s widow, Beverly Bryan, filed a civil lawsuit against Shaknovsky in 2025, accusing the surgeon of causing her husband’s death.
After the suit was filed, Weyman Dorsett learned that the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration completed an investigation into his mom’s death in September 2024, after Bryan’s botched surgery and more than a year after Dorothy’s death.
The investigation found that Shaknovsky and other hospital physicians “failed to appropriately use diagnostic testing and delayed in ordering imaging to timely treat sepsis” in Dorothy Dorsett’s case, according to a copy of the report.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration did not return a request for comment.
Shaknovsky was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of second-degree manslaughter in the death of Bryan, according to officials.
“It’s bittersweet,” Weyman Dorsett said. “You know, nothing’s going to bring back Mr. Bryan, or my mom and all the other people that are still out there that have been butchered and suffered.”
Dorothy Dorsett grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where she and her husband, Weyman Dorsett II, her high school sweetheart, raised their two children: Weyman Dorsett III and his sister.
“She just was everything you would think the American dream mom would be,” he said. “She led by example, best cook in the world. She was our rock.”
She and her husband moved back and forth from Alabama to Miramar Beach, Florida, about 30 miles west of Panama City. She moved to Miramar Beach permanently following the death of Weyman Dorsett II in 2021.
Weyman Dorsett III described his mother’s passing as a “big piece missing.”
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/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/4DLXMJBS6JDU3N75Q6AVJCW4H4.jpeg?w=80&resize=80,80&ssl=1 "Rubio, Scott call fast-tracking of Florida state park golf course plan ‘ridiculous’")
