Facing intense internal pressure, the Democratic National Committee released a long-awaited, 192-page post-election autopsy of the 2024 campaign on Thursday, criticizing its party’s strategy under Vice President Kamala Harris and its messaging approach toward Donald Trump. The report argues that Democrats did not deploy enough aggressive negative messaging against Trump and that Harris’s outreach decisions left gaps with key groups.
DNC chair Ken Martin released the document only after what the AP described as deep frustration and growing pressure from Democratic operatives. Martin apologized for the delay, writing on Substack that he “didn’t want to create a distraction” and that he “ended up creating an even bigger distraction,” for which he said he was “sincerely” sorry. In the AP account, Martin had originally promised to release the autopsy even before he took over the committee last year, but he kept it under wraps because he worried it would interfere with Democrats’ attention on the November midterms.
The DNC initially withheld the report because it was described as not ready for broader release, and the document was covered with annotations and disclaimers saying it was incomplete and unsubstantiated. Martin also said during a conversation with staff on Thursday that the report’s primary author, consultant Paul Rivera, was no longer working with the DNC, according to a person on the call who said they were not authorized to speak publicly about the private discussion. A spokesperson for Harris did not respond to a request for comment.
The autopsy’s publication triggered immediate reactions inside the party, with some Democrats expressing anger not only at what the report said, but at how and when it was released. Democratic strategist Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, wrote that Martin “must go” and said “It’s hard to imagine anyone handling anything worse than Ken Martin handled the DNC autopsy.” Another Democratic organizer, Amanda Litman, who leads the Democratic-allied organization Run For Something, said the “execution, the rollout and the coverup” reflected that Martin was not up to the job of rebuilding trust for future Democratic primaries.
Beyond internal criticism of Martin’s rollout, the autopsy also became a focal point because it did not address some contested or high-profile issues from the 2024 campaign, according to the AP. The report, while criticizing Democrats’ messaging focus on “identity politics,” did not address former President Joe Biden’s decision to seek reelection, the rushed selection of Harris after Biden dropped out, or the party’s divide over the war in Gaza. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called the omission on Gaza “notable” and said in an AP interview that she was glad “there’s something out,” but added that it took “a very long time.” When asked whether she supports Martin’s leadership, she did not back him.
One section of the autopsy focused on how Democrats handled Trump-related vulnerabilities, arguing that Harris and her allies failed to concentrate enough on Trump’s negatives—especially his felony convictions—and faulting what it described as a broader messaging decision not to engage in negative advertising at the scale required. The report says Democrats’ messaging was not matched by sufficient “negative firepower directed at Trump,” and it argues it was “essential to prosecute a more effective case” that Trump should have been “disqualified from ever again taking office,” adding that “the grounds were there, but the messaging did not make the case.”
The report also described how Democratic campaign dynamics were affected by the outside advertising environment, including an example involving Trump’s attacks on Harris’s positions on transgender policies. It suggested Harris had been “boxed” in by a Trump campaign ad described as “very effective,” which highlighted Harris’s previous support for taxpayer-funded gender-affirming surgeries for prison inmates. The autopsy also described what Democratic pollsters believed about a response that would have required a change in position.
The document further argues that Democrats cannot exclude rural voters and asserts that “Harris wrote off rural America,” saying Democrats assumed urban and suburban margins would compensate—an approach it said “doesn’t work.” The report cites the need for Democrats to “Show up, listen, and then do it again,” and says candidates must perform well in rural areas if Democrats want to reclaim leadership in the Heartland or the South. It also points to underperformance with male voters of color, saying male voters require more direct engagement and that Democrats should deploy male messengers and address economic concerns rather than rely on identity politics.
Thursday’s release landed as Martin faced what the AP described as a crisis of confidence among party officials, with some operatives discussing recruiting a new chair even though many believed Martin’s job was not in serious jeopardy before the midterm elections. The autopsy’s rollout did not reduce irritation, and Democratic insiders spent the day talking about a two-year-old election instead of focusing, the AP reported, on the next set of challenges including Trump’s unpopular war in Iran, surging prices, and backlash against the White House ballroom. The episode underscored the extent to which the party’s internal debate over 2024 is now playing out alongside questions about leadership and the party’s strategy for what comes next.