The DNC has decided not to release the election autopsy report they promised to release. The reason is apparently because it points out the obvious — the over-reliance on TV ads, the failure to make effective use of streaming and social media, and (probably) some dirty laundry about how the Biden advisors like Dunn and O’Malley Dillon hid Biden’s infirmities and were overly influential in the Harris campaign.
Take, for instance, the Future Forward super PAC, which had a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars for the 2024 contest. Well before Election Day, the PAC came under harsh criticism from some Democrats who argued that it hadn’t spent sufficient money earlier in the campaign on ads attacking Trump, which may have allowed Trump to rehabilitate himself after his 2020 loss and the January 6 insurrection.
Other Democrats charged that Future Forward’s ad-testing model and addiction to traditional TV ads led to anodyne communications and that its flawed theory of politics caused it to refrain from sufficiently targeting Trump, letting him avoid blame for his first-term disasters on Covid-19 and the economy. Still others said the PAC didn’t innovate in digital communications, failing to reach and motivate young and nonwhite voters who helped tip the election to the president.
There are grounds for thinking the DNC report digs into these problems. According to a DNC official, the analysis found, among other things, that the party didn’t invest sufficiently in innovative digital tools; that its digital ads didn’t reach young voters who no longer engage with broadcast and cable TV; and that Trump—with the help of an ecosystem of right-wing podcasters and influencers—outworked the Democrats in the information wars. Democrats must play catchup in this department, the report found.
Anita Dunn is an advisor for Future Forward, which raised $600 million in “dark money” (the unlimited cash that Citizens United enabled).
I’m not surprised that Ken Martin decided to bury this report. The DNC is not beholden to individual donors — most of them have stopped giving to the Democratic establishment committees (DNC, DCCC, DSCC) and instead give small dollar donations via ActBlue. So when Future Forward talks, the DNC listens, and there are far too many vacation homes and yachts that have been purchased from TV ad revenue and other old school, possibly ineffective, consultant-driven campaign strategies.
Our party desperately needs to re-organize and re-strategize, but the status quo ante folks are desperate to keep that from happening. They know that an avalanche of cash will be poured into 2026 and 2028 Democratic campaigns, that the anti-Trump wave will lead to Democratic victories in most races no matter what campaign strategies are used, so they want to get their share.
While I’m writing about strategy, if you can get past the paywall (a free subscription works), this Texas Monthly piece about some cherished illusions of the Democratic Party in Texas is worth a read. The tl;dr is that Texas has low turnout, but many of the non-voters are likely Republican voters, so GOTV in Texas is a thorny issue at best and a money pit for Democrats at worst. Plus, like Florida, new residents are very Republican, and there are a lot of them. Beto O’Rourke ran about the best campaign one can imagine, and I’m sure Jasmine Crockett or James Talarico will also do a great job, but the state might not be winnable.
