The Democratic National Committee (DNC) released this Thursday a nearly 200-page document of an internal “autopsy” on what went wrong in the 2024 campaign, ending months of speculation that became a public embarrassment for the party just as it tries to regain control of Congress.
The report places part of the blame for Kamala Harris’ defeat on former President Joe Biden’s political operation, arguing that it failed to position her for success in the race after her withdrawal from the race. The text also criticizes Harris’ campaign for not distancing itself from Biden and for not having put together an effective strategy to contain the rise in Donald Trump’s approval ratings.
The release of the document was an extraordinary outcome for the party, which practically disauthorized the report itself by classifying it as incomplete and inaccurate, releasing the text only after months of headaches due to keeping it confidential.
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At the top of each page is a red disclaimer stating that the DNC “has not received sources, interviews, or supporting data for many of the claims contained herein.” The page titled “Executive Summary” is blank, with just a note in red: “This section was not provided by the author.”
Certain factual portions of the version released by the DNC appear highlighted in yellow and noted as unverified or inaccurate. The party first gave this annotated copy to CNN and then released the document itself.
For months, DNC chairman Ken Martin had resisted calls to release the report on the grounds that he did not want to divert focus from efforts to win seats in the midterm elections. In recent weeks, however, the debate over the autopsy itself — coupled with the party’s delicate financial situation — has taken on a life of its own, threatening to derail the committee’s electoral priorities and fueling public and private calls for Martin to step down.
“In short, I didn’t want to create a distraction,” he wrote in a long text on Substack this Thursday. “Ironically, in doing so, I ended up creating an even greater distraction. And for that, I sincerely apologize.”
Many Democrats are alarmed by the party’s financial picture. On Wednesday, the DNC’s most recent balance sheet showed that the party had US$3 million more in debt than in cash. The Republican National Committee, in contrast, had $123.9 million available and no debt.
Martin had tasked a longtime ally, Paul Rivera, with coordinating the autopsy, but the final product “was not ready to go public. Not by a long shot,” the DNC chairman wrote.
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The document is disorganized and leaves entire sections blank, including those dedicated to conclusions. Still, it brings some revelations, such as the fact that, before the 2022 midterm elections, Biden’s team directed the party to conduct opinion polls on how first lady Jill Biden could help the president and what themes and messages to emphasize. Nothing similar was done regarding Harris.
The report also describes troubling polling data showing that pro-Trump ads criticizing Harris for past statements defending trans rights were highly effective — without her campaign offering a consistent response to neutralize the pieces or change the focus of the debate.
A person familiar with the preparation of the autopsy said there is no list of interviewees, no transcripts or notes, making it virtually impossible to check the veracity of the draft.
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Rivera declined to comment.
The report blames both the Biden and Harris campaigns for failing to successfully build a negative view of Trump, stating that Democrats chose not to “enter the fray with negative publicity on the necessary scale.”
“It was essential to present a more effective case as to why Trump should have been disqualified from ever returning to office,” the text says. “The reasons existed, but the message did not present this case.”
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For the most part, however, the document’s conclusions are limited, often slipping into political clichés and difficult-to-understand explanations.
“Democrats need to organize everywhere to win everywhere, through a Majority Party Strategy focused everywhere, in a cohesive, strategic and decisive way”, says one of the excerpts.
The way Martin handled the episode — announcing a report, then saying he would not release it and, finally, publishing a preliminary version full of disavowing notes — raised new doubts about the party’s leadership.
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“When you’re in a hole, you have to stop digging,” said Devin Remiker, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. “Now that Ken Martin has put down the shovel, he needs to dig himself out of the hole and get out. There are a lot of people he and the DNC are going to have to rebuild trust with.”
Martin appears to recognize the need to regain the trust of both the base and major donors.
“Now we need to repair trust,” he wrote. “I hope this is a start.”
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