US Democrats shelve report on 2024 loss to Trump, eye midterm comeback

By James Oliphant and Tim Reid

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The Democratic Party said on Thursday it would not release an internal review of its loss to Republican President Donald Trump in 2024, saying that ​a public airing of its failures would distract from focusing on winning future elections.

The party has been ‌embroiled in finger-pointing over who was to blame for Vice President Kamala Harris' defeat. Harris became the Democratic presidential candidate just weeks before the election ‌after President Joe Biden abruptly quit the race.

The so-called autopsy report, which involved hundreds of interviews with party officials across the country, was an attempt to arrive at some consensus.

Instead, after Democrats won governor races in New Jersey and Virginia last month and showed strength in other contests, the much-anticipated report will now be put aside as the party looks ahead to next ⁠year’s midterm elections, when it will try ‌to retake control of Congress from Republicans.

“In our conversations with stakeholders from across the Democratic ecosystem, we are aligned on what’s important, and that’s learning from the past and winning the future,” ‍Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement on Thursday.

“Here’s our North Star: does this help us win? If the answer is no, it’s a distraction from the core mission.”

Harris’ defeat laid bare a rupture in the party between its ​liberal and more centrist wings, with each faction claiming that it held the blueprint for the path forward.

But the ‌report was not expected to touch upon that ideological divide, nor was it expected to place blame on either Harris or Biden.

The report’s findings centered on process — voter contacts, fundraising and media messaging, according to a DNC official who spoke on condition of anonymity. It touched upon Trump’s success at reaching younger voters and his ability to exploit nontraditional media, such as podcasts.

The report also contended that Democrats failed to adequately address voters’ concerns on issues such as the economy, public ⁠safety and immigration, issues on which Trump was able to make ​gains, the official said.

Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist who was communications director ​at the DNC between 2005 and 2009, said the decision not to release the report was not "surprising, particularly given that Democrats seem to have some political momentum."

But Finney said the move was disappointing, ‍because there were valuable lessons ⁠to be drawn from Trump’s victory last year as the party prepares for the 2028 presidential election.

After Democratic President Barack Obama won his second term in 2012, the Republican Party commissioned its own autopsy report, which, among ⁠other things, called for the party to make a greater effort to attract voters of color and women. But those recommendations went by the wayside ‌once Trump won the Republican nomination and then the presidency in 2016.

(Reporting by James Oliphant and Tim ‌Reid in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin and Matthew Lewis)