DNC Draft Autopsy Blames White House For Not Preparing Vice President Harris

The Democratic National Committee released a draft “autopsy” on the 2024 campaign on Thursday, and the document says the White House “did not position or prepare the Vice President.”

“The little over four months of heart-stopping events that elapsed between the disastrous electoral debate featuring then-President Joe Biden, his withdrawal from the race turning Kamala Harris into the vice presidential candidate, and the elections on November 5, 2024 that handed Donald Trump victory are still today a trauma for the Democratic Party”

El País

The draft, prepared by Paul Rivera, argues that “the White House did not effectively support Vice President Harris over three and half years to improve her standing before the candidate switch,” while also saying the “national campaign did not effectively drive Trump’s negatives.”

El País

The New York Post reported that the draft made no mention of “Biden’s advanced age or evidence of his cognitive decline,” and that it was annotated to highlight factual errors including Democrats’ winning margin in the 2024 North Carolina gubernatorial race and a misspelling of former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.

The Hill reported that Rivera said three broad surveys were conducted, but that “the Harris ticket was never given a briefing on the findings, unlike studies done on Biden, his wife and other proxies.”

DNC Chair Ken Martin said he was “not pleased with the report but released it for “transparency,” and The Hill reported that the report notes “these are not the views of the DNC but rather of Rivera as the author.”

The Telegraph said Martin was forced to publish the 192-page document after it was leaked to CNN, and it quoted the report prepared by Paul Rivera: “The White House did not position or prepare the Vice President [Ms. Harris].”

GV Wire

The New York Post reported that the DNC and Chairman Ken Martin faced pressure to release the report, and that the draft was missing sections including “a list of the supposed 12,000 interviewees.”

El País reported that the draft includes a note stating: “No evidence has been provided to support these claims,” describing a “paradoxical” situation in which the party says the document does not meet its quality standards while publishing it anyway.

The Hill said Rivera argued that having Harris on the ballot helped downballot Democrats “maintain” part of their base support, while also warning that candidates in state races like North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) capitalized on data trends while Harris did not.

“The draft, begrudgingly released by the DNC on Thursday, made no mention of Biden’s advanced age or evidence of his cognitive decline; Harris’ pick of Minnesota Gov”

New York Post

The Telegraph reported that the report blamed Harris for failing to change her stance on trans issues despite attack ads, including the tagline: “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.”

El País said the report’s publication comes as “Storm clouds loom in the coming months,” pointing to Republicans’ redrawing of districts through gerrymandering and the role of “a Supreme Court with a conservative supermajority.”

El País added that these maps “sow even more uncertainty about an election that a few months ago seemed the propitious scenario for a Democratic revenge,” with the possibility of Democrats winning the House and “perhaps also initiate an impeachment process against the president.”