Democrats belatedly publish 2024 presidential election autopsy report

The Democrats have belatedly published a postmortem on the party’s disastrous 2024 election defeat, after an initial decision to withhold the document triggered an angry backlash.

Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), released the report – accompanied by an apology to party members angered by his initial decision to keep the analysis of Kamala Harris’s loss to Donald Trump and defeat in both houses of Congress under wraps.

Martin had initially declined to publish the report, authored by a veteran Democratic strategist, Paul Rivera. He cited a need to focus on this year’s midterm elections and avoid re-opening old wounds.

The decision backfired, leading to a crisis of confidence in Martin’s leadership among senior Democrats, and accusations that he was keeping the findings secret.

The report focuses on key demographics that Harris lost – including Latinos, men and rural voters in many states – and compares her performance to other Democrats in key state races, such as North Carolina governor Josh Stein.

It also takes an in-depth look at campaign spending and advertising, and highlights the need to involve new voters in campaign messaging rather than just pushing out messages.

Notably, the autopsy does not mention the role that Joe Biden’s age or the US’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza played in the wider Democratic defeat, despite widespread polling about the impact of those issues.

Martin acknowledged the lack of comprehensive findings, saying the report “does not meet my standards [and] will not meet your standards”. But he added its release was dictated by the public’s need “to trust the Democratic Party”.

Issuing a convoluted explanation for his actions on Thursday, Martin said: “When I received the report late last year, it wasn’t ready for primetime. Not even close. And because no source material was provided, fixing it would have meant starting over, from the beginning – every conversation, every interview, every data set.

“At the time, Democrats had just come off a series of massive wins in November’s off-year elections, and midterm season was about to start. In December, I announced we would shelve this report, and I meant what I said at the time – that I didn’t think dwelling on 2024 or looking backwards so late in the game helped us to win elections. And at the end of the day, winning elections is my job.”

Martin added: “In short, I didn’t want to create a distraction. Ironically, in doing so, I ended up creating an even bigger distraction. And for that, I sincerely apologize.”

Misgivings about the quality and contents of the 192-page document are stated graphically at the beginning and at the top of each page in the form of a disclaimer marked in red, stating: “This document reflects the views of the author, not the DNC. The DNC was not provided with the underlying sourcing, interviews, or supporting data for many of the assertions contained herein and therefore cannot independently verify the claims presented.”