Democrats decide not to publish postelection review of 2024 defeat
DNC chair Ken Martin says the comprehensive post-election inquiry will remain private to avoid infighting ahead of the 2026 midterms; some conclusions will inform strategy.
ATLANTA — The Democratic National Committee will not publish a postelection assessment of the 2024 election, in which Donald Trump returned to the presidency and Republicans gained full control of Congress. The decision comes after a months-long review of what went wrong for Democrats and what could be done differently, a process initially ordered by DNC chair Ken Martin, who was elected following Trump's victory.
Martin had authorized a thorough review that included hundreds of interviews and was intended to yield a public report similar to the postmortems Republicans released after the 2012 election. He now says there is little value in making the findings public because it could fuel intraparty infighting and distract from the 2026 midterms, when control of Congress will be at stake. “Does this help us win? If the answer is no, it’s a distraction from the core mission,” Martin said in a statement Thursday. The report’s fate was first reported by The New York Times and spares Democrats from renewed scrutiny of campaigns led by former President Joe Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, who became the party’s nominee but lost to Trump.
By keeping the inquiry private, Martin also avoids taking sides in the ongoing debate between moderates and progressives over how candidates should confront issues Trump highlighted, such as transgender rights. “We are winning again,” Martin said.
The decision does not prevent the party from using learnings to shape its 2026 plan. A committee aide said some conclusions will be folded into strategy, even without a public report. Among the findings were that Democratic candidates did not adequately address voter concerns on public safety and immigration, two topics Trump weaponized during his comeback campaign. The review also concluded that Democrats must overhaul digital outreach, especially to younger voters, a group where Trump showed gains compared with Harris in earlier cycles.
Democrats point to a favorable arc in 2025 races that suggests renewed enthusiasm for the party. In November, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill won races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively. In New York’s mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, defeated establishment Democrat-turned-independent Andrew Cuomo. Across several U.S. House special elections in 2025, Democratic nominees often outperformed their 2024 results by double-digit margins. The party also claimed gains in state legislative races and, in some cases, statewide positions in places that have trended Republican in recent cycles.
Still, the absence of a public postelection report leaves a gap in the public record about what went wrong and what the party intends to fix. The party’s leadership, privately, has signaled that the 2026 landscape will compel a sharper focus on issues tied to safety, immigration, and a more modernized digital outreach operation to reach younger voters as the election cycle accelerates.