The Albany Gazette - US Democrats release - and disown - 2024 election autopsy

The report, commissioned after Kamala Harris's loss to Donald Trump, was initially promised as an honest reckoning with what went wrong.

Instead, its delayed release became its own political debacle, feeding months of speculation that the party was trying to hide the findings.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Ken Martin, who first pledged to release the review and later reversed course, said Thursday he was publishing it "unedited and unabridged" despite deep misgivings.

"It does not meet my standards, and it won't meet your standards," Martin said, adding that withholding the report had created "an even bigger distraction."

The unusual document includes a disclaimer saying it reflects the views of its author, Democratic strategist Paul Rivera, not the party itself.

The DNC also said it was not given the underlying sources, interviews or data for many of the assertions, and therefore could not independently verify them.

The report's bumpy path to publication has intensified doubts among some Democrats about Martin's leadership just months before midterm elections, with donors and party members complaining that an effort to explain one defeat had instead produced a new internal crisis.

The review had been expected earlier last year but was repeatedly delayed. Martin later said he would not release it, saying Democrats needed to focus on future elections rather than relitigating 2024.

Pressure mounted after Harris privately signaled support for making the report public and liberal groups flooded DNC members with demands for its release.

Before its official release, CNN had already obtained and published the document -- which stretches nearly 200 pages but is missing sections, including a conclusion.

Despite the process problems, the report paints a stark picture of a party that it says has "vacillated between stagnation and retrogression" since Barack Obama's 2008 victory.

It also criticizes the Biden White House and the Harris campaign for failing to do more to define their candidate beyond being "not Trump" and says Democrats failed to make a strong enough case against Trump.

But the report offers few firm solutions, and some of the most divisive questions from 2024 are largely absent -- including Biden's decision to run again, Harris taking over the ticket without a competitive process and the effect of the Gaza war on Democratic support.

(L.Thomas--TAG)