Ken Martin Releases Flawed 2024 DNC Autopsy as Fundraising Trails $18.3 Million Debt
Updated
Updated · The New York Review of Books · Jul 20
Ken Martin Releases Flawed 2024 DNC Autopsy as Fundraising Trails $18.3 Million Debt
1 articles · Updated · The New York Review of Books · Jul 20
Summary
Released before Memorial Day, the DNC’s long-delayed 2024 election autopsy came out with red-boxed errors and uncited sources, and Chair Ken Martin said he was “not proud” of a report that failed his standards.
Months of delay stemmed from consultant Paul Rivera’s incomplete December draft, but the published document still sidestepped core questions about Biden’s reelection bid, Harris’s nomination, inflation, Gaza and the party’s campaign message.
Leadership pressure has intensified because Martin’s broader stewardship is under scrutiny: the DNC had $14.9 million cash on hand at the end of May against $18.3 million in debt, versus more than $125 million and no debt at the RNC.
Martin, elected chair in February 2025 by 246.5 to 134.5, has prioritized state parties with $1 million a month in guaranteed funding, but critics inside and outside the party say he lacks a credible turnaround plan ahead of the midterms.
The episode highlights a wider Democratic Party problem: a weakened DNC, squeezed between state-party demands, outside donor networks and Super PACs, is struggling to define both its authority and its path after the 2024 loss.