If yesterday’s release of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) long-awaited autopsy report on the 2024 presidential election was meant to lower the heat on its embattled chair, it doesn’t seem to be working.
Ken Martin yielded on Thursday to months of pressure from those inside and outside the DNC to release the report explaining where the party and former Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign went wrong. The report pointed to multiple rationales for the party’s losses, including that Democrats focused too much on being anti-Republican and that former President Biden’s political operation didn’t prepare Harris to be the nominee.
But it makes no mention of some of the most sensitive issues for Democrats, such as concerns about Biden’s age and divisions over the Israel-Hamas war.
That compelled some prominent voices to push for Martin’s exit.
Former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, who clashed with Martin during his brief tenure last year, called on Martin to resign. Dan Pfeiffer, a co-host of the left-leaning podcast “Pod Save America,” said in a post on the social platform X that the autopsy makes clear that Martin isn’t the right person to lead the party now.
“This was supposed to be a top priority, and he fumbled it in every way,” Pfeiffer wrote. “Once he saw that the report was poorly done, he just decided to start lying to everyone about why it wasn't being released.”
Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) told Semafor that he believes Martin should step down, saying, “There doesn’t seem to be a plan to turn things around and the clock is ticking.”
Controversy surrounding the autopsy has plagued Martin since December, when he reversed on an earlier promise to release the report’s findings, arguing it would be a distraction for the party and wouldn’t help Democrats win.
Martin said he recognized his folly on a call with DNC members after the report’s release on Thursday.
“Being a leader at every level means you own every single mistake — those of your creation and those not of your creation. This was a major mistake. I own it, and now it is time for us to move forward at the DNC,” Martin said.
At the same time, Martin disavowed the report, saying the conclusions don't represent the DNC’s official position.
DNC member Clay Middleton, in an interview with The Hill, said the party should be focused on winning the midterms, not settling internal scores. But he conceded, “This should have been handled better.”
“Unlike the military, where we have an after-action review and there's actual guidelines, structure of lessons learned, recommendations, what to keep, what to change, I think we needed all of those ingredients laid out beforehand in order to do an autopsy of what happened or frame it as what not to do the next time,” he said.
“I have no inside information other than what I've seen and what I've observed, but it just appears to me that some people are doing some self-preservation here,” he added.
Martin told DNC members that the report’s author, Paul Rivera, is no longer working for the DNC in any capacity, NBC News reported.
The autopsy drama is just one of the DNC’s challenges as prepares for the midterms and the 2028 election cycle.
The DNC is dealing with millions of dollars in debt from the 2024 cycle and is being massively outraised by the Republican National Committee (RNC). In February, the RNC raised $18.5 million to the DNC’s $10.3 million, giving it nearly seven times as much cash on hand, $109 million to $15.9 million.
The party’s reputation overall also continues to be poor. Even as President Trump’s approval rating has been plummeting, dragging down the GOP with him, a clear majority of the public still hold an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party.
Middleton said Democrats need to be disciplined to keep the momentum they have gained through wins and overperformance in special elections over the past year.
“I mean, winning sometimes cures everything, and we don't need to be distracted on the goal [of winning back Congress],” Middleton said.
Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright acknowledged that the financial situation presents a challenge for the DNC, but it is only one factor in the party’s success, pointing to party infrastructure, organization, motivation and candidate quality. He noted Democrats’ advantage in fundraising in 2024 didn’t ultimately lead to their victory.
“The national party infrastructure plays a role, but what's going to be on the ballot is how these candidates connect with the communities they're trying to serve,” he said.
▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from the autopsy.
▪ CNN: How the DNC’s post-mortem turned into a crisis.
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