Democrat Party members reportedly are angry that Chairman Ken Martin decided to bury a postmortem of the 2024 election.
Democrats commissioned an extensive internal review of what went wrong after their losses last year only to have Martin decide the public, donors, and even many party activists won't get to see it.
The backlash is coming from inside the Democrat tent, where strategists and operatives warn that refusing to air the findings reinforces a growing trust problem and all but guarantees the party repeats the mistakes.
The DNC's "autopsy," the Washington Examiner noted, followed a bruising cycle in which Democrats lost the presidency, lost the Senate, and failed to win back the House — a trifecta that should have triggered serious, public soul-searching.
Instead, Martin has opted to shelve the report, a move critics see as protecting feelings rather than fixing what's broken.
The Hill reported that Martin and party leaders are trying to justify the decision as political strategy: Democrats claim they've regained momentum with a string of recent election wins and want to "move forward, not look back."
But Democrat strategists pushed back sharply.
One insider told The Hill the party has a habit of "gloss[ing] things over" and pretending "nothing to see here," adding, "And that's how we lose elections."
Another prominent Democrat, strategist Jamal Simmons, argued that volunteers, donors, and voters "deserve to know what went wrong" and that the DNC should tell them.
That criticism goes to the heart of what conservatives have long argued, that the Democrat Party is increasingly run like a brand-management operation, quick to message and slow to confront reality.
Democrats can tout midterm hopes all they want, but refusing transparency about a historic defeat looks like avoidance, not confidence.
The New York Times, which first detailed the internal review, reported that the DNC conducted more than 300 interviews with Democrats in all 50 states.
Martin, however, decided not to publish the findings and will keep them under seal, believing a public look back would be "counterproductive" as Democrats try to win seats in 2026.
Martin summed up the rationale bluntly: If it doesn't help the party win, it's a "distraction," according to the Times.
That logic is precisely what critics say is backward.
The Hill reported Democrat operatives worry the party still lacks a compelling, unifying message beyond opposition to President Donald Trump and that "Trump bashing is not enough."
Joel Payne, a Democrat strategist, warned that avoiding "hard and uncomfortable conversations" does nothing to rebuild trust with the public or the party's own base, The Hill reported.
Even the Times suggested the report's burial may deprive Democrats of needed introspection, quoting a Democrat researcher who said the party is "scared" of upsetting its coalition — a fear that can keep it from addressing difficult questions head-on.
For Republicans, the entire episode is political oxygen: A party that demands transparency from everyone else is hiding its own review of a failed election strategy.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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