TAMPA, Fla. — Tuesday night was a clean, but expected sweep for both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Biden won primary contests in four states, and Trump won them in five, including Ohio, Arizona, Kansas, Illinois, and Florida.

Trump won the Sunshine State with 81% of the vote.

Most of the remainder went to former Gov. Nikki Haley, Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Gov. Chris Christie, even though all three have suspended their campaigns.

It’s a smaller margin of victory than he secured as the incumbent in 2020 when he carried nearly 94% of the vote, easily squashing challenges from Bill Weld, Joe Walsh, and Rocky De La Fuente.

And then there’s the issue of voter turnout. In Tuesday night’s primary, it was as low as 20% in some areas.

However, both parties are calling Tuesday night a success, but there are questions about whether not holding a Democratic Primary for Biden was a good move.

Voting is the cornerstone of democracy, but getting folks to the polls can be tough. 

“We had some tremendous successes all across the state,” Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said. “Of the 47 races where we had a Democratic candidate and incumbent last night, Democrats won at least 25 of those, and a few that are going into a runoff.”

While her claim of a night of success, some question the party’s strategy to not hold a presidential primary. 

Dr. Joshua Scacco is the director for the Center of Sustainable Democracy at the University of South Florida.

He says not holding a primary is a missed opportunity. 

“Getting individuals voting early and getting them voting on a regular basis is actually very important because you are essentially priming them for what’s to come in November,” Scacco said.

He says this could have had an effect on some of the local races. 

But for Fried, that’s not the case. She said the party has taken this route before when Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were in office. 

Florida Republican Party Chair Evan Power touted the results of some of the local elections, including the election of two Republicans to Clearwater’s city council: Ryan Cotton and Mike Mannino.

Part of a statement from Power reads quote,

“From Delray Beach to Clearwater and from Winter Garden to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, the Florida GOP remains committed to electing Republicans up and down the ballot in every corner of the state,” Power said.