Democrats start the new year on top.
Series 2025 victories, in both red and blue statesmarked a striking improvement compared to 2024 party screening. To use a political term of art, this outperformance means that candidates—including even those who lost—received a significantly higher percentage of the vote than the presidential candidate. Kamala Harris managed.
It's a strong signal heading into the midterm elections that Democratic supporters are energized, a key component of any successful campaign, and that the party is gaining support among independents and perhaps even a few disaffected Republicans.
If history is a guide and uneven economy omen, Democrats will likely to seize control of the House of Representatives in November, winning at least the three seats needed to wipe out the GOP's overall majority. Senate looks longer — although not impossible — to achieve given the Republican leanings of the contested states.
In short, Democrats are in much better shape than everyone else. black crepe and existential ideas was offered a year ago.
Yes, the party suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the presidential race. But 2024 was never the disaster some made it out to be. Democrats received two seats in the House of Representatives and held their positions in most contests, with the exception of the fight for the Senate, where several Republican states returned to form and ousted the few remaining Democratic representatives in the House.
However, democrats are democrats everything is not happiness and light in the party of Jefferson, Jackson, Clinton and Obama.
Campaign for become party chairmanLast winter, Ken Martin promised to conduct a thorough review of the 2024 election and make its results public, a step toward correcting Democratic mistakes and strengthening the party going forward.
“What we need to do right now is really start to understand what happened,” he told reporters before his election.
Now Martin has decided to hide the autopsy report.
“Here is our North Star: will this help us win?” he said in a statement in mid-December announcing his turn of events and the unceremonious burial of the research. “If the answer is no, it is a distraction from the core mission.”
Of course there is there's no shortage of analysis on the 2024 election for the question. The trash-picking, finger-pointing and blame-laying began in the blink of an eye after Donald Trump was declared the winner.
There are prescriptions from the moderate and progressive wings of the party that naturally suggest that Democrats absolutely need to change their direction to have any chance of ever winning again. There are diagnoses confusion of contenders for the 2028 presidencydeclared and undeclared, offering themselves as both a visionary and a democratic savior.
But the report produced by Martin was to be the party's final word, offering both a clear look back and a resounding way forward.
“We know we've lost ground with Latino voters,” he said in those tumultuous days before becoming party chairman. “We know we've lost ground among women, young voters and, of course, working-class voters. We don't yet know how or why.”
As part of the investigation, more than 300 Democrats were interviewed in each of the 50 states. But there were good reasons to doubt the report's credibility even before Martin pulled out a shovel and started digging.
There was no plan to examine President Biden's statements, according to the New York Times and others. decisive decision to seek re-election despite his advanced age and no intention to question any of the strategic decisions made by Harris in her rush campaign.
It's like trying to solve a murder by ignoring the weapon used and not paying attention to the cause of death.
Really interesting.
Yet when Martin reneged on his promise, there was predictable outrage.
“This is a very bad decision and reeks of the caution and complacency that has led us to this point.” Dan PfeifferObama White House alumnus posted on social media.
“The people who volunteered, donated, and voted deserve to know what went wrong,” Jamal Simmons, former Harris, Advisor to the Vice PresidentThe Hill newspaper reported this. “The DNC should tell them.”
In 2013, Republicans ordered similar impact assessment next Mitt Romney's defeat of President Obama. His sharp comment was harsh.
The 98-page report says the complacent, uncaring, ideologically rigid party is alienating voters with outdated policies that have changed little in decades and needlessly projecting an image that alienates minorities and young voters.
Among its recommendations, the posthumous study called on the party to develop a “more welcoming brand of conservatism” and offered a broad set of proposals for “inclusivity” for minority groups, including Latinos, Asians and African Americans. (BELONGINGany?)
“Unless changes are made,” the report says, “Republicans will find it increasingly difficult to win another presidential election in the near future.”
Trump, of course won the White House three years later doing exactly nothing that the report recommended.
That suggests the Democratic showdown, buried or not, is unlikely to matter much when voters go to the polls. (His accessibility, stupidity.)
Still, Martin should have published the assessment, and not just because of the time and effort invested. Democratic hostility toward the chairman already existed, especially among donors dissatisfied with his leadership and performance, and his suppression of the autopsy report will not help.
Martin gave his word, and breaking it is an unnecessary distraction and a disgrace to the party.
Plus, a little thoughtful self-reflection never hurts. It's hard to look forward when you have head stuck in the sand.
