Washington — The Democratic National Committee on Thursday released a long-awaited autopsy on the 2024 election that party chair Ken Martin has kept under wraps for months, bowing to pressure to unveil a document that has become a source of consternation for many Democrats.
“How, we all asked, could Democrats have lost to Donald Trump again? How did we blow through billions of dollars? And where do we go from here?” Martin said in a statement announcing the release. “When I commissioned a comprehensive review of the 2024 election, I started a process to answer those questions while interrogating where our party has systemically and historically fallen short.”
But Martin said he is “not proud” of the final product because it “does not meet my standards.” He said he was releasing it because “transparency is paramount.”
The final document is 192 pages long, and includes this disclaimer on every page: “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.”
There are also editorial notes throughout the document reading “no sourcing provided,” “contradicts public reporting” and “inconsistent with data in chart.” Sources familiar with the report confirmed to CBS News that the author was Democratic strategist Paul Rivera.
The final document says the party “conducted more than 1,200 interviews to assess the health of our 57 state parties — in every state, district, or territory.” While it examines an “enthusiasm gap,” the document does not address some key issues facing the country, including Israel and Gaza.
“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,” Martin said.
In 2024, Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris and won every battleground state that President Joe Biden won four years earlier. Martin ordered an autopsy in January 2025 of what the party did wrong. But in December, Martin said he would not release the report, soon after Democrats had swept major races in the off-year elections. “Here’s our North Star: does this help us win? If the answer is no, it’s a distraction from the core mission,” he said at the time.
In his statement Thursday, the chairman explained his decision to initially withhold the report by saying he did not want to “create a distraction.”
“Ironically, in doing so, I ended up creating an even bigger distraction. And for that, I sincerely apologize,” he said.
Many Democrats had questioned Martin’s decision not to release the autopsy. Rob Flaherty, the deputy campaign director of the Biden and then Harris teams, wrote an essay for The Bulwark last week detailing what he told the team that put together the report.
Democrats are grappling with intra-party divisions ahead of what many expect could be a “wave year” for them. For example, in Pennsylvania’s 3rd District — the most Democratic-leaning district in the country — progressive candidate Chris Rabb won Tuesday’s primary for retiring Rep. Dwight Evans’ seat, defeating three others, including the former chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
