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Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 194

What Just Happened?

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Trial Balloon · Ep. 194: What Just Happened?

The DNC Is Killing Its Autopsy of What Went Wrong

December 18, 2025 · 11:09 am ET · Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Ken Martin, the chairman of the DNC, said on Thursday that he had decided not to publish a report that he ordered months ago into what went wrong for the Democratic Party last year. Party officials have conducted more than 300 interviews with Democrats in all 50 states to create a document that Mr. Martin had once pitched as crucial to charting a path forward.”

“Mr. Martin will instead keep the findings under seal. He believes that looking back so publicly and painfully at the past would prove counterproductive for the party as it tries next year to take back power in Congress.”

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

Wall Street Journal: “The DNC’s postelection review included hundreds of interviews with people from all 50 states, according to a DNC official. The insights uncovered issues specific to the 2024 cycle—both presidential and down-ballot—as well as other structural challenges for the party.”

Washington Post: “But by declining to make the report public, the party is also keeping the lessons learned from its 2024 failures limited to a small group of insiders and dodging a public accounting that many Democrats believe is necessary to avoid repeating past mistakes.”

Democrats

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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