Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin released the party’s 2024 autopsy report against his wishes amid growing pressure from within his party.
Martin released the report as he received it, meaning it’s “unedited and unabridged – with annotations for claims that couldn’t be verified” for transparency purposes.
Martin told CNN:
“When I was elected DNC chair, I commissioned an after action review of the 2024 election that I wanted to be honest and transparent, and with actionable and specific takeaways for the future of the Democratic Party,” 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, it would have meant starting over. I could not in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on the report that was produced.“After last November’s massive Democratic wins, I didn’t want to create a distraction, but by not putting the report out, I ended up creating an even bigger distraction. For that, I sincerely apologize. For full transparency, I am releasing the report as we received it, in its entirety, unedited and unabridged. It does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards, but I am doing this because people need to be able to trust the Democratic Party and trust our word.”
The report lacks answers to the biggest questions, such as Biden’s decision to run again and Harris becoming the nominee without a process.
Every page begins with a disclaimer: “This document reflects the views of the author [Paul Rivera, a veteran Democratic strategist], 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.”
I guess Martin truly wants to distance himself from the report despite the hard truths he must face.
Let’s look at a few of those hard truths.
“The sad truth is Democrats have lost ground at every level from inconsistent messaging and improper planning, even as the policies the Party advances continue to earn voter support at the ballot box,” Rivera wrote. “Ballot measures for Medicaid expansion, nonpartisan redistricting, wage increases, family leave, and reproductive freedom have passed in states where Democrats remain locked out of statewide offices.”
Rivera claimed that the Democrats won critical elections because of a flawed Republican candidate.
That is not a winning solution.
“Democrats cannot count on Republicans continuing to nominate deeply flawed candidates, and certainly need to think through how to nominate strong and ethical leaders,” stressed Rivera. “Regaining trust and confidence in the Party – where voters have an affirmative reason to support Democrats – will take a comprehensive strategy and considerable effort over multiple cycles. Democrats need to do it and do it right now, because the future could become even more difficult.”
Yeah, maybe House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries shouldn’t urge Democrats to “break” the opposition.
However, Rivera conflated the 2024 presidential election, claiming Harris’s defeat “was among the smallest in American history.”
Yeah, if you look at the popular vote.
The popular vote doesn’t determine the winner. We have the Electoral College.
The winner needs 270 electoral votes. President Donald Trump won with 312 votes. Former Vice President Kamala Harris only got 226.
It wasn’t a landslide, but let’s not act like Trump barely won.
I’m looking through the “What Happened (Electoral Review)” chapter, and it doesn’t include a section specifically for the presidential election.
Weird!
Governors, the Senate, the Attorney Generals, and the House all have a section within the chapter.
Rivera sprinkled in information about Trump and Harris in his analysis of key demographic patterns, irregular voters, geographic patterns, and strategic implications.
Rivera provided brutal truths about the Democrats’ problems with male voters of every color, education, wealth, etc.
“The problem wasn’t Democratic policy or party brand,” Rivera concluded. “It was specifically about how Harris as a candidate.”
Ouch!
“Every down ballot Democrat did better among men than Harris.”
Sheesh. Harris saw huge drops in support from young Latino men and young black men.
However, Harris concentrating on “college-educated suburbs” led to her only scoring 43% of the non-college voters, the majority of whom are white.
Harris made history by becoming the first Democrat to score less than 50% of new voters (only 48%).
Rivera told the DNC, “Winning requires a strong urban performance + competitive suburbs + limited rural losses.”
Harris ignoring the rural areas contributed bigly to her loss:
The math doesn’t work. You can’t lose rural areas by overwhelming margins and make it up elsewhere when rural voters are a significant share of the electorate. If Democrats are to reclaim leadership in the Heartland or the South, candidates must perform well in rural turf. Show up, listen, and then do it again.
In other words, you have to mingle with the little people.
That means men, too. Harris paid too much attention to women. You can reach out to men and women at the same time.
“Working-class men, particularly in manufacturing and construction, saw Trump as more aligned with their cultural values than Democratic candidates,” stated Rivera.
Was it all Harris’s fault? Not according to Rivera, who accused the Biden White House of “not effectively support Vice President Harris over three and half years to improve her standing before the candidate switch.”
But again, the report does not include anything about Biden choosing to run again and then dropping out or Harris becoming the candidate without a formal process.
Rivera mentioned that the late switch left Harris with limited time. But it doesn’t take away with a formula that has always worked, which is engage and reach out to everyone.
For instance, Rivera praised Jacky Rosen, who won the Nevada senate seat, for having a strong ground game. Rosen’s campaign stayed active with voters all year, worked hard with local organizations, etc.
Overall, though, the Democrats need to think local, stop ignoring people, and focus on the issues.
I doubt the now far-left party can do that.
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