Democrats belatedly publish 2024 election autopsy report: It won't meet your standards'

A Democratic postmortem on the 2024 election defeat was released after an initial decision to withhold it triggered backlash. The report includes an apology and centers on demographic groups that Kamala Harris lost, including Latinos, men, and rural voters across multiple states. It compares Harris’s performance with other Democrats in key races, including North Carolina governor Josh Stein, and concludes that Harris’s approach to rural America was flawed. It argues that campaign spending, advertising, and voter outreach practices need improvement, emphasizing involvement of new voters in messaging rather than relying on message delivery alone. The report avoids deeper examination of Joe Biden’s re-election decision at age 81, his handoff to Harris, Gaza-related impacts, and claims involving racism and sexism.

"The report focuses on key demographics that Harris lost including Latinos, men and rural voters in many states and compares her performance to other Democrats in key state races, such as North Carolina governor Josh Stein. Harris wrote off rural America, assuming urban/suburban margins would compensate, the report says. The math doesn't work. The autopsy concludes that Stein's success in the state that Harris lost provided a clear lesson for Democrats: focus less on abstract issues and identity politics."

"It also takes an in-depth look at campaign spending and advertising, and highlights the need to involve new voters in campaign messaging rather than just pushing out messages. Notably, the autopsy does not delve deeply into Joe Biden's decision to run for re-election at age 81, or his decision to effectively hand over his campaign to Harris after he dropped out."

"The Democrats have belatedly published a postmortem on the party's disastrous 2024 election defeat, after an initial decision to withhold the document triggered an angry backlash. Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), released the report which fails to mention Gaza or Joe Biden's age accompanied by an apology to party members angered by his initial decision to keep the analysis of Kamala Harris's loss to Donald Trump and defeat in both houses of Congress under wraps."

"The report makes no mention of the role that the US's support for Israel's war on Gaza played in the wider Democratic defeat, despite widespread polling about the impact of those issues, nor does it engage with the criticism that racism and sexism were a factor."

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