Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin on Thursday released the party’s autopsy report on the 2024 election after facing intense pressure to do so.
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Martin had been pummeled in public for months after he promised to release the report and then reversed course in December, saying he would not do so.
On Thursday, Martin apologized.
“When I was elected DNC chair, I commissioned an after action review of the 2024 election that I wanted to be honest and transparent, and with actionable and specific takeaways for the future of the Democratic Party,” Martin said. “When I received the report late last year, it wasn’t ready for primetime — not even close — and because no source material was provided, it would have meant starting over.”
Martin went on: “I could not in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on the report that was produced. After last November’s massive Democratic wins, I didn’t want to create a distraction, but by not putting the report out, I ended up creating an even bigger distraction. For that, I sincerely apologize.
“For full transparency,” Martin continued, “I am releasing the report as we received it, in its entirety, unedited and unabridged. It does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards, but I am doing this because people need to be able to trust the Democratic Party and trust our word.”
CNN first published the copy of the report.
DNC members had previously told NBC News they were promised a summary of the findings from Martin and expressed concern that he had gone quiet on the subject.
Calls to release the report grew louder after former Vice President Kamala Harris signaled to donors in conversations that she supported a public release of what went wrong in her losing 2024 campaign.
Martin earlier this month had discussed potentially giving outtakes of the autopsy to groups of people, NBC News has reported.
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