Author of Democrats' 2024 election autopsy says a chapter was left out

Paul Rivera, the author of the controversial internal Democratic Party report on the 2024 presidential election defeat, has told The New York Times that an entire section titled "What Happened in 2024" was missing from the version released in May. Rivera says that chapter was included in the copy he personally handed to party chairman Ken Martin in January.

The Democratic National Committee previously stated the autopsy had been published "in its entirety." Rivera claims the excised portion included questions about Joe Biden's decision to run for re-election and the influence of party operatives who had become "generationally wealthy off politics." While the chapter did not name individuals, Rivera wrote that Democrats seeking change "keep banging their heads up against a system proven to be inflexible and self-enriching."

"Whether that was a conscious decision on their part to bury the section for the purposes of hiding a paragraph, I don't know," Rivera said. "That's a them question. What I can tell you is they had it, and they made a decision not to release it."

Martin disputed Rivera's account, telling the paper that "this alleged report section was not in any binder I reviewed." Had it been included, he added, "we would have released it with the rest of the report."

The report was released in May to widespread disappointment for failing to explain why the party and its candidates, Biden and later Vice-President Kamala Harris, had not gained enough traction to defeat Donald Trump.

The missing chapter, obtained by the Times, states that pre-election Democratic wins led the party "to believe they were stronger than they actually were. President Biden, seeing those results, made the consequential decision to seek re-election even when Americans were already sending a very strong signal: they were unhappy with the status quo."

The report also said Democrats had not done enough to convince voters that Trump was unacceptable and made incorrect assumptions about Latino and male voters. It pointed to successful Democratic candidates in swing states who focused on economic and cost-of-living messaging over identity politics.

The party now heads into November's midterms and the 2028 presidential race with a significant $2 million cash deficit, while the Republican Party reports a positive balance of over $128 million. A recent Supreme Court decision could widen that gap.

Rivera's disputed chapter also addressed the loss of support among Hispanic, Black, Asian American and Native American voters, as well as the isolation of party officials and consultants from voter concerns due to wealth. "It is therefore possible the people 'in the room' at the highest levels of 2024 decision making misunderstood the mood and practicalities facing everyday America," Rivera wrote.

Martin said the party would have released the missing chapter "that went after self-enriching consultants" if it had possessed it, and that he had campaigned for the chairmanship "to hold the consultant-industrial complex accountable." Rivera now says he is going public with his claim and his 564-page review of the election loss. "It's coming from a place of hope and, honestly, a little bit of desperation," he said. "I think that we need some disruption here to force change."