Democrats Bury 2024 Autopsy as Voters Flee, Coffers Run Dry

Paul Riverbank, 12/19/2025Democrats face division, debt, and secrecy after 2024 losses—will recent wins stop the bleeding?

This was supposed to be a soul-searching exercise. After bitter defeats, over 300 Democratic officials and organizers from every state were interviewed. There were real expectations—a few party elders wanted a tough look at the bones of strategy, fundraising blunders, and at the last-minute decisions handed down by the previous Biden-Harris leadership. But if you were counting on an unfiltered reckoning, you’d be disappointed. Stories from last summer hinted that Martin intended to steer clear of criticizing Biden or Harris directly. The inquiry instead zeroed in on operational stuff—organizing, party branding, campaign logistics. It was not, Martin kept warning, an “autopsy.” He insisted that the party was wounded, not deceased.

Recent wins—like underdog victories in the 2025 off-year contests and better-than-expected outcomes in a few special elections—have shifted the winds for Democrats, if only slightly. Martin now says those results show the party is bouncing back. “We learned from 2024,” he wrote in a recent memo, “and we’re already proving it on the ground. We’re winning again, even where Democrats have struggled for a generation.” For Martin, releasing a detailed report would only distract from the task at hand: getting the gavel back in Congress. “Unless something helps us win, it’s not our focus,” he wrote, almost as if reciting from a playbook.

Republicans, not surprisingly, seized the moment to take a few swipes. Kiersten Pels, national press secretary for the GOP, painted the Democrats as both bankrupt and adrift. “Voters don’t need a report to explain why Democrats are cratering,” she sniped. Pels took it further, mocking the party’s internal debt and suggesting Democrats are now “literally taking out loans to prop up a broken operation.” She closed with a quip: “Republicans sincerely hope they keep up that great work.” The glee in that last line was unmistakable.

Beneath these headlines, serious fractures remain. The party is short on both cash and goodwill. According to a new Quinnipiac poll, Democratic approval in Congress sits at a dismal 18 percent—the worst showing since the poll began tracking in 2009. Seventy-three percent of voters disapprove. What’s startling is that even Democratic voters aren’t inspired: fewer than half express much faith in their party’s performance in the House or Senate. As Tim Malloy, a polling analyst, observed, “A family squabble spills over into the holidays. Democratic voters want control of Congress, yet few are pleased by the party’s current direction.”

Looming even larger is the collapse of support among independent voters—a gap some pollsters say hasn’t been this wide in decades. Harry Enten of CNN was blunt: “These are truly horrific numbers. They’re in the trash bin of history. That’s where Democrats’ approval ratings are now.” He compared their standing to the Dead Sea—another low-water mark.

Still, it’s not a total rout just yet. By a slim margin, more voters still say they prefer a Democratic-run House (47 percent) to a Republican one (43 percent), but that lead is about half of what it was earlier in the fall. The trend line isn’t promising—momentum is slipping, month by month.

Meanwhile, the GOP has its own headaches, though the base seems less divided. Roughly 77 percent of Republicans approve of their party in Congress, according to the same poll, and only 18 percent disapprove. It’s not exactly a victory lap, as most Americans still rate Congressional Republicans poorly, but compared to the Democrats’ slide, their position looks relatively stable.

Fundraising tells a similar story. At last count, the DNC was lugging more than $15 million in debt, leaving only $3 million in usable cash. The RNC, by contrast, is sitting more comfortably, with more cash in reserve and zero debt. That financial gap could prove decisive as 2026 races start to heat up.

The big picture: faith in Congress remains low, irrespective of party. But Democrats are staring at deeper divisions and sharper declines in support, even from traditional allies and longtime donors. And for all Martin’s efforts to shift focus, critics say the decision to keep the review in the vault will only fuel suspicion and frustration. It’s hard to mend fences in the dark.

Politics rarely offers tidy endings. Right now, the Democratic Party seems to be writing its next chapter behind closed doors, hoping that recent wins can paper over cracks that have yet to be sealed. Whether that gamble pays off, or drives the party further into the wilderness, remains an open—and very public—question.

You can feel the pulse of unease within the Democratic Party these days, but you won’t see it written in a glossy report. Not now. Just a few months after Democrats faced losses up and down the ballot in 2024—surrendering not just the White House, but the Senate and, unforgivably for some insiders, failing to reclaim the House—the Democratic National Committee has dropped any plans to air its laundry in a post-mortem. The party’s new leader, Ken Martin, scrapped the so-called “autopsy.” Officially, the DNC now frames it as an “after-action review,” a gentler phrase, but in either case, the results are locked away.This was supposed to be a soul-searching exercise. After bitter defeats, over 300 Democratic officials and organizers from every state were interviewed. There were real expectations—a few party elders wanted a tough look at the bones of strategy, fundraising blunders, and at the last-minute decisions handed down by the previous Biden-Harris leadership. But if you were counting on an unfiltered reckoning, you’d be disappointed. Stories from last summer hinted that Martin intended to steer clear of criticizing Biden or Harris directly. The inquiry instead zeroed in on operational stuff—organizing, party branding, campaign logistics. It was not, Martin kept warning, an “autopsy.” He insisted that the party was wounded, not deceased.Recent wins—like underdog victories in the 2025 off-year contests and better-than-expected outcomes in a few special elections—have shifted the winds for Democrats, if only slightly. Martin now says those results show the party is bouncing back. “We learned from 2024,” he wrote in a recent memo, “and we’re already proving it on the ground. We’re winning again, even where Democrats have struggled for a generation.” For Martin, releasing a detailed report would only distract from the task at hand: getting the gavel back in Congress. “Unless something helps us win, it’s not our focus,” he wrote, almost as if reciting from a playbook.Republicans, not surprisingly, seized the moment to take a few swipes. Kiersten Pels, national press secretary for the GOP, painted the Democrats as both bankrupt and adrift. “Voters don’t need a report to explain why Democrats are cratering,” she sniped. Pels took it further, mocking the party’s internal debt and suggesting Democrats are now “literally taking out loans to prop up a broken operation.” She closed with a quip: “Republicans sincerely hope they keep up that great work.” The glee in that last line was unmistakable.Beneath these headlines, serious fractures remain. The party is short on both cash and goodwill. According to a new Quinnipiac poll, Democratic approval in Congress sits at a dismal 18 percent—the worst showing since the poll began tracking in 2009. Seventy-three percent of voters disapprove. What’s startling is that even Democratic voters aren’t inspired: fewer than half express much faith in their party’s performance in the House or Senate. As Tim Malloy, a polling analyst, observed, “A family squabble spills over into the holidays. Democratic voters want control of Congress, yet few are pleased by the party’s current direction.”Looming even larger is the collapse of support among independent voters—a gap some pollsters say hasn’t been this wide in decades. Harry Enten of CNN was blunt: “These are truly horrific numbers. They’re in the trash bin of history. That’s where Democrats’ approval ratings are now.” He compared their standing to the Dead Sea—another low-water mark.Still, it’s not a total rout just yet. By a slim margin, more voters still say they prefer a Democratic-run House (47 percent) to a Republican one (43 percent), but that lead is about half of what it was earlier in the fall. The trend line isn’t promising—momentum is slipping, month by month.Meanwhile, the GOP has its own headaches, though the base seems less divided. Roughly 77 percent of Republicans approve of their party in Congress, according to the same poll, and only 18 percent disapprove. It’s not exactly a victory lap, as most Americans still rate Congressional Republicans poorly, but compared to the Democrats’ slide, their position looks relatively stable.Fundraising tells a similar story. At last count, the DNC was lugging more than $15 million in debt, leaving only $3 million in usable cash. The RNC, by contrast, is sitting more comfortably, with more cash in reserve and zero debt. That financial gap could prove decisive as 2026 races start to heat up.The big picture: faith in Congress remains low, irrespective of party. But Democrats are staring at deeper divisions and sharper declines in support, even from traditional allies and longtime donors. And for all Martin’s efforts to shift focus, critics say the decision to keep the review in the vault will only fuel suspicion and frustration. It’s hard to mend fences in the dark.Politics rarely offers tidy endings. Right now, the Democratic Party seems to be writing its next chapter behind closed doors, hoping that recent wins can paper over cracks that have yet to be sealed. Whether that gamble pays off, or drives the party further into the wilderness, remains an open—and very public—question.