Dems’ 2024 audit prompts mixed feelings towards DNC chair’s leadership

The release of the long-awaited 2024 election after-action report by the Democratic National Committee sparked a new round of debate among Democrats both over the report itself and over beleaguered party chair Ken Martin.

Hours after the report was released on Thursday, Martin had a call with members of the national finance committee.

The report said Democrats did not make a strong case for why Trump shouldn’t have been elected and the Harris campaign leaned too heavily on the notion that Trump was “unacceptable,” as opposed to building a positive argument for why Harris should be president. It also stated that the campaign neglected to reach rural voters, and found that Harris underperformed with young Latino and Black men, with most of the focus towards female voters.

Martin drew swift backlash for releasing the report not fully completed and looking in disarray. On each page of the audit, a disclaimer reads stating, “This document reflects the views of the author, not the DNC. The DNC was not provided with the underlying sourcing, interviews, or supporting data for many of the assertions contained herein and therefore cannot independently verify the claims presented.”

“When I received the report late last year, it wasn’t ready for primetime,” Martin said in a Substack post after the report’s release. “Not even close. And because no source material was provided, fixing it would have meant starting over, from the beginning — every conversation, every interview, every data set.”

In addition, the report makes no mention of the Israel-Gaza war, Biden’s decision to run despite widespread concerns about his age, there’s no conclusion section, and multiple factual errors have been found according to the DNC and to ABC News’ review.

Committee members on the call, who asked not to be named, told ABC News that Martin was asked why he didn’t try to rehabilitate the report, which he has acknowledged was not ready for “prime time,” after he first got it.

Per two national finance committee members on the call, Martin said the report was in bad shape and it would’ve taken time to revise it.

A third source on the finance call told ABC News that Martin said that because the DNC did not have any of the source materials the report was based on, it was not possible to “rehabilitate” it.

“We would have essentially had to start over from scratch and taken another 3, 4, 5 months to put that together. And look, I own that decision and in hindsight, of course, I wish we had just done that, but instead what I did is, I said we were gonna focus on the lessons,” Martin said on Thursday’s finance call, per the source.

“I can’t go back and change the past, but I do believe in transparency and that’s why we released it today,” Martin added, according to the third source on the call.

Amanda Litman, co-founder and president of Run for Something, said that in recent weeks she had been asked by some senior strategists if she would be interested in replacing Martin, though she said she is not interested in doing so. Litman said that she “can’t imagine” Martin would stay in leadership, but acknowledged the process of removing the chair is “tricky.”

A longtime Democratic donor and former DNC delegate said in an interview that Martin did a “huge disservice” by putting out an incomplete report.

“He’s not weak for releasing the report, he’s weak because he released an incomplete report that he admits is not ready for prime time rather than doing the work and presenting something real, actionable and substantive,” the donor added. 

On a staff call held on Thursday, DNC Chair Ken Martin addressed concerns regarding calls for him to resign. 

According to a source familiar on the staff call, Martin said, “This was a major mistake. I own it, and now it’s time for us to move forward at the DNC, and I hope that you’ll move forward with me.”

A member of the DNC’s national finance committee said they are “super concerned” that the handling and release of the report will turn away donors and that it’s going to “undoubtedly hurt.”

“A lot of donors are concerned, and today did not bring any more confidence or make anyone feel better about the direction of the DNC,” the committee member said.

A source working in Democratic politics said of the report, without taking a position on Martin, “I think the report is a disaster. The only thing worse than the report explaining that the party is wrong on policy is the appearance of incompetence at evaluating what went wrong in 2024.”

Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke with Martin last week about the audit, a source confirmed to ABC News. Shapiro told Martin that the DNC should release the report for transparency, the source said. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, told reporters on Thursday she felt it was “unbelievable” the report did not discuss voters reacting to the war in Gaza.

Some DNC members don’t believe the handling of the report is a reason to replace Martin.

Andrew Lachman, a DNC member, said in an interview that Martin should remain chair and that he has been doing a “good job.”

James Zogby, another DNC member, said Martin shouldn’t be ousted but, “If there was a mistake at all, it was promising it, and then not delivering on it.”

“I’ve been in the party for 33 years, and I’ve seen party chairs come and go,” Zogby said. “This is the first one who focused on building the party, and of course, he’s ruffled some feathers in the process.”