DNC releases autopsy of devastating 2024 election cycle

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The Democratic National Committee on Thursday published a sweeping internal autopsy of its 2024 collapse, as party chairman Ken Martin simultaneously released and repudiated the report, saying it “does not meet my standards.”

The release came after months of pressure on Martin, who told DNC members in a December message that the full report would not be public while the party instead focused “on implementing our findings.”

“I am not proud of this product; it does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards. I don’t endorse what’s in this report, or what’s left out of it. I could not in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on it,” Martin said in an explainer posted online Thursday morning. “But transparency is paramount. So, today I am releasing the report as I received it — in its entirety, unedited and unabridged — with annotations for claims that couldn’t be verified.”

Democrats’ catastrophic 2024 election cycle saw the party lose control of the White House, Senate and fail to win back the House. The presidential race was dominated for months by questions about President Joe Biden’s age and ability to serve a second term if he were to win — concerns that exploded after a disastrous June 2024 debate performance against Republican Donald Trump.

Weeks later, Biden withdrew from the race and Democrats rallied behind the campaign of then-Vice President Kamala Harris, whose campaign became a 107-day sprint to try and stave off electoral damage.