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.”
The report is challenged throughout by annotations from the DNC, but paints a picture of missed opportunities, problems faced by the presidential campaign compared to down-ballot Democrats and choices that helped lead the party to a rough election night.
“The national campaign did not effectively drive Trump’s negatives, and the White House did not effectively support Vice President Harris over three and half years to improve her standing before the candidate switch,” the report says, with an annotation from the DNC saying no evidence was given for that portion of the autopsy.
In another portion, the report claims “Harris struggled with definition beyond ‘not Trump’ and ‘prosecutor vs. felon.’ The truncated campaign timeline didn’t help, but the campaign did not quickly resolve on how to tag Trump and define Harris.”
It also contends that Democrats struggled deeply in effectively framing Trump — a challenge that has bedeviled opponents since his 2016 presidential run.
“The campaign and allies failed to remind voters of his incompetence,” the report says in another portion challenged by a DNC annotation “The idea Trump’s negatives were “baked in” is a major failure of analysis and reality – given how his favorability has cratered less than a year into this term.”
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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.
The initial burst of energy from the ticket change proved short-lived: Harris lost every presidential battleground state to Trump, who became the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote — part of what conservatives read as a clear mandate victory from voters.
Since then, the Democratic Party has struggled to find its footing without a clear national leader. Martin, who won the DNC chairmanship in early 2025 after a lengthy tenure leading Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, inherited a difficult hand — one complicated further by fundraising problems and sustained criticism over his decision to sit on the autopsy report.
That turbulence has unfolded even as Democrats have built momentum heading into this fall’s midterms, where they are in a strong position to win back the House and potentially the Senate for the final two years of Trump’s presidency.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
Hunter Woodall covers politics for MS NOW. He’s reported on politics and presidential campaigns for The Associated Press and CBS News and reported on Congress for The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Emily Gold
Emily Gold is a coordinating producer for MS NOW.