The Report Is Out. Nobody's Happy About It.

The DNC's long-awaited 2024 election autopsy dropped Thursday, May 21. After months of Ken Martin promising transparency, reversing course, getting publicly shamed, and finally caving — this is what Democrats got.

A 192-page document with a disclaimer printed on every single page.

The disclaimer reads: "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." That's according to CBS News.

The party released its own official election autopsy — then formally disowned it on every page.

How It Actually Got Out

Martin didn't release this because he wanted to. He released it because CNN was already about to publish it.

According to CNN, the DNC withheld the report until CNN told them it had obtained the contents and was about to report on them.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro — widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender — called Martin about a week before the release to personally tell him he was unhappy with the stonewalling, according to two sources cited by NBC News. Martin was rattled by that call. Days later, the report dropped.

Kamala Harris herself had publicly called for the release. Martin was getting pressure from every direction.

Martin's Statement: A Masterclass in Apologizing for Something You Still Did

Martin's official statement Thursday admitted the obvious: "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."

He continued: "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."

He also said: "It does not meet my standards, and it won't meet your standards."

That's the DNC chair describing his own party's official election review. Out loud. In writing.

What's Actually in It — And What's Missing

According to CBS News and NBC News, the document claims the party conducted hundreds of interviews — but does NOT name who was interviewed. It contains frequent annotations reading "no sourcing provided," "contradicts public reporting," and "inconsistent with data in chart."

The report includes factual errors. A significant one flagged by CBS News: the document incorrectly states that on January 6, 2021, a Capitol Police officer "was beaten to death by the insurrectionists." That is NOT what happened, and it's the kind of basic error that should have been caught before the report ever left a first draft.

NBC News reported that large sections are devoted to a lengthy recap of American political history going back to 2008, plus historical fundraising and spending data. In a report supposedly about why Democrats lost in 2024.

The two biggest decisions of the 2024 cycle — Biden's late withdrawal from the race and the choice to hand the nomination to Harris without a primary — are conspicuously underexamined, according to ZeroHedge's reporting. Those are not minor footnotes. They arguably decided the election.

The Author: Gone

The report was written by Democratic strategist Paul Rivera, confirmed to CBS News by sources familiar with the document. Rivera declined to comment when reached by CNN.

On a DNC call Thursday, Martin informed party staff that Rivera is no longer associated with the committee, according to sources cited by both CBS News and CNN.

So the DNC commissioned a report, sat on it for months, released it under pressure from CNN, slapped disclaimers on every page, and then fired the guy who wrote it — all in the same day.

What the Left-Leaning Press Is Getting Wrong

Most mainstream coverage — NYT, NBC, CBS — is framing this as a stumble by Martin that he's now correcting through belated transparency.

Martin chose transparency only after CNN made it unavoidable. That distinction matters, and several outlets are glossing over it.

The NYT has called for Martin to be replaced. That's notable — it's a left-leaning paper calling out a Democratic Party chair, and they're not wrong. The handling of this was, by any standard, a failure of basic institutional competence.

ZeroHedge's framing — that the report is a "whitewash" — fits the substance. The report buries the two decisions that most shaped 2024.

What This Means for Regular People

The Democratic Party spent billions of dollars losing an election in 2024 — losing every single battleground state that Biden won four years earlier, according to CBS News. Their official self-examination is 192 pages of unverified claims, historical filler, basic factual errors, and no named sources.

The party responsible for half of American governance cannot produce a credible internal review of its own failure. The guy who ran the process apologized for it publicly. The guy who wrote it got fired.

If this is what Democratic Party infrastructure looks like right now, voters on both sides should be paying close attention. A functional opposition party matters — for everyone.