All posts tagged "democratic party"

5 things to know as DNC's long-buried 2024 autopsy leaks to CNN

CNN obtained the Democratic Party's long-private autopsy of the 2024 election on Thursday.

CNN Senior Reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere told anchors Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown how he had access to the report, saying the report was "not ready" but that over time, he had discovered more information and worked with DNC chair Ken Martin to release it. CNN opted to publish the report in full.

"The plan was not to release this report. The report was released to me after I had obtained a lot of the detail and contents in there," Dovere said.

The public version published on CNN was annotated by DNC lawyers, "undercutting a lot of what was in the report," he explained. "We are publishing the full report so people can see it and read for themselves."

Here are five things to know about the "autopsy" report.

1. The release was delayed from its original release date and prompted a number of conspiracy theories.

The report was originally set to be released in spring 2025.

"Then, DNC chair Ken Martin promised members at their summer meeting last August in his home state of Minnesota, 'Three weeks,'" Dovere said. "Then October. Then after the November elections. Then, with Martin offering no explanation other than he suddenly didn’t want to look backward, he announced he wouldn’t be releasing it at all."

Conspiracy theories were mounting in the wake of the report's delayed release.

"Martin was trying to protect Kamala Harris as she considers another presidential run, Obama campaign alumni were protecting each other, high-priced consultants were trying to keep millions in fees from being revealed, or the party was trying to hide how voters reacted to the Gaza crisis," Dovere said.

"Or one of the most widespread: Maybe the autopsy didn’t even exist at all," Dovere added.

2. The Biden White House and campaign neglected Kamala Harris and her campaign.

"The autopsy accuses the Biden administration of not doing more to boost Harris long before the president’s June 2024 debate performance forced him to withdraw, particularly on immigration given the Trump campaign tying the issue to her as the administration’s so-called 'border czar,'" Dovere said.

3. The Harris campaign was in the dark on key DNC decisions — and may have taken too much for granted.

"Martin entrusted a top priority to a friend, Democratic consultant Paul Rivera, who volunteered to work on it part-time and waited several months to contact key officials with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ campaigns," Dovere reported. "Many top decision-makers in the campaigns were ultimately never interviewed, and Harris herself has expressed frustration privately that questions about the document have gone on."

4. The report revealed both campaigns — Biden and Harris — failed to define Trump.

Republicans appeared better at messaging to voters and learning from past elections. This was identified as a pain point during the aftermath of the 2024 election.

5. Not all questions surrounding the election and what happened are included in the current report.

"It gets into things about spending decisions and organizing that was done by the DNC, ways to possibly improve it," Dovere said. "But there are a lot of things in that version that are incomplete and also, it does not touch a couple of topics a lot of people are very interested in and thought were the reasons for this report not being out. There's nothing about Joe Biden and what happened in the debate, there's nothing about Kamala Harris getting the nomination without any kind of primary process and also there's nothing about the way that voters were responding to Gaza and how the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris policies and comments about it were hitting their minds."

'Disenchanted' group will deal Trump major blow at midterms: ex-White House economist

A draft of voters will abandon the Republican Party at the midterms later this year, according to a former Joe Biden staffer.

Jared Bernstein, who served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, has claimed that a major voting pool is more likely to vote against Trump and the GOP than for them in November.

Speaking with Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, Bernstein said, "There are the Never Trumpers, the Always Trumpers, and then this really key group in the middle that’s pretty dispositive in terms of which way they swing, and it’s dispositive in terms of determining election outcomes.

"Some people call them 'persuadables.' So they rolled the dice, and they bet on the wrong pony. Whoops, I mixed the metaphor. But you get what I’m saying.

"And now they understand that they’ve bet on the wrong guy and that their prices are right back to where they were. And in fact, inflation, if anything, has accelerated because of decisions Trump’s made.

"It’s not just that he’s ignored affordability or called it a hoax; it’s that he’s pushed hard in the wrong direction on these things. And this key middle group—which I think is behind some of the numbers you posted this morning — is very disenchanted by what they’ve seen."

GOP strategists have also recently urged candidates to break from Trump and his team if they wish to survive this election cycle.

Trump's decision-making in office, particularly over the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, could be a hindrance to GOP representatives hoping to hold or gain seats at the midterm elections, according to some insiders. An unnamed GOP strategist told Reuters, "We have to break out of that and show race by race why we’re the better choice."

Trump faces 'hardball' fight as Dems prep criminal probes for presidential team: analyst

Donald Trump's post-midterm presidency could look like a fight against the Democratic Party on criminal accountability, an analyst has claimed.

The New Republic's Greg Sargent observed that, should the Dems receive a majority in the Senate or House following the November elections, they would have the opportunity to build a case against Trump. Sargent said, "Presumably, you could see Democrats using hardball to seek accountability for Trump world’s crimes and also build in deep protections against more authoritarian rule."

Fellow analyst Brian Beutler suggested that Trump and his administration could do little to stop the Democratic Party from increased oversight into cabinet decisions after the election.

He said, "So in the immediate term, it entails fighting with the Trump administration over congressional oversight, right? Because winning the election doesn’t give them the power to conduct police investigations, they have to control the presidency for that.

"So in 2027 and 2028, it’s going to mean they’re going to have to do oversight more aggressively than they did in Trump’s first term, when they had Congress in 2019.

"And they’re going to have to be prepared for him to try to essentially embargo oversight—to say that he won’t cooperate with any Democratic oversight, it’s all illegitimate, sort of like a version of all elections I lose are rigged.

"What can they do about that? They need to get comfortable with large segments of the government being defunded if people in agencies, leaders in agencies, are following Trump’s orders not to comply with proper oversight—then those offices are going to have to be shut down until they start following the law, essentially.

"And then they’re going to have to go around the executive branch by subpoenaing the corporate entities that have bribed Trump, or quote-unquote settled with Trump, or worked hand in glove with Trump in some cases."

Political analysts had previously flagged the funding for Trump's White House ballroom and the push for the SAVE Act to be passed into law as examples of what Sargent described as "authoritarian rule".

The SAVE Act would end mail-only voter registration, implement nationwide photo ID requirements, and restrict mail-in ballots. Democratic lawmakers denounce it as voter suppression legislation.

Impeachment plan for two GOP Supreme Court judges floated: 'Reasons for removal'

Democratic Party candidate Graham Platner has outlined a plan to impeach two sitting Supreme Court judges.

Platner, who is running for the Democratic nomination for US Senate in Maine, told NBC there are reasonable grounds for the removal of Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Alito and Thomas have faced significant ethical scrutiny during Trump's second term. Alito authored the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that sparked widespread controversy and calls for his recusal from abortion-related cases.

Thomas has been embroiled in controversy also, with recent calls for his removal from the Supreme Court following a speech where he denounced progressive politics.

During an appearance at University of Texas Austin Law School, Thomas said, "Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government."

Platner has since called for the impeachment of both sitting judges. He said there is a "compelling case" against both Alito and Thomas. "The relationship between Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow is not hard to see as clearly corrupt, and Justice Thomas doesn’t even recuse himself from cases that impact Crow’s businesses," he said.

Platner added that he is "definitely open to doing more, including adding seats on the court." He also outlined a plan, should the Democratic Party win a majority in the Senate, to investigate Donald Trump's administration.

“I want to shut the White House down,” Platner said. “I want us to, for the next two years, be dragging every single person in the White House, every single person in all these agencies that have been conducting themselves in illegal and unconstitutional ways. They need to be dragged by subpoena in front of Senate committees over and over and over again."

A Supreme Court justice can be impeached through a constitutional process outlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The House of Representatives must vote to impeach the justice, requiring a simple majority, by charging them with "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

Following House impeachment, the Senate conducts a trial where the justice can present a defense. A two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is required to convict and remove the justice from office.

No Supreme Court justice has ever been successfully impeached and removed through this process, though several have faced impeachment attempts throughout American history for various alleged misconduct and ethical violations.

Dems could see '10-to-1 majority' after 'huge win' ahead of midterms: GOP expert

The Democratic Party could be handed a 10-to-1 advantage thanks to a recent redistricting vote, a political analyst has claimed.

Virginia Democrats have pushed an aggressive redistricting measure aimed at gaining four additional House seats through redrawing the state's congressional map to favor Democrats in 10 of 11 districts.

The ballot measure, which passed last night (April 21), will redistrict the state's congressional map and could result in Democrats winning as many as four House seats.

Democratic state House Speaker Don Scott said, "Virginia just changed the trajectory of the 2026 midterms. At a moment when Trump and his allies are trying to lock in power before voters have a say, Virginians stepped up and leveled the playing field for the entire country."

The Bulwark analysts Tim Miller and Bill Kristol analyzed the chances of Democratic Party victory at the Virginia midterm elections.

Miller added, "The side that favored the referendum that redistricted the state of Virginia and redrew the state in such a way that it might end up being a 10-to-1 Democratic majority.

"My main takeaway though, like my biggest picture of all this, like taking off the campaigns and elections nerd hat, you know, and just like looking at the biggest picture takeaway, it's really a huge win and an exclamation point for the response that the Democratic Party and the pro-democracy movement had to Donald Trump and his cronies attempts to rig the midterm elections. And they're going to keep trying other things."

Kristol added, "I mean, this is Virginia. Two-thirds of Virginians voted in 2020 for the previous redistricting, and that was the actual sentiments of Virginia are probably two to one for let's have nonpartisan redistricting and so they overcame that because of the threat of Trump, and I I was one of those who thought they should, and I voted that way and obviously a lot of other people thought so too.

"The Democrats have won [Virginia] with the exception of that first Biden midterm. It's why the state of Virginia has gone blue. It was a swing of two-thirds in favor of nonpartisan redistricting. That would be one way to look at it.

"It [Jay Jones Nov. '25 results] is very consistent with the generic ballot polling right now nationally, which is +7, +8. I feel like that's a kind of, pretty good for Democrats but not quite at blowout levels."

GOP faces 'existential threat' with draft of post-midterm investigations: analysis

The Republican Party could face a slate of investigations should they lose the House or Senate after the midterm elections, an analyst claimed.

Whether the GOP loses control of both is yet to be seen, but one political analyst believes the party would be hit hard by the Democratic Party should the blue wave come. Writing in Newsweek, Jesus Mesa suggested that Donald Trump is keenly aware of what fate awaits him should his party fail to retain the House and Senate.

Mesa wrote, "Trump himself has acknowledged what could be coming. 'If we don't win the midterms, they'll find a reason to impeach me,' he told Republican lawmakers in January. What Democrats can actually do with power depends entirely on what they win.

"If they take only the House, they get subpoena authority and the ability to stage public hearings—powerful political theater with real consequences. But Republicans in the Senate can acquit every Cabinet official.

"Contempt citations can be challenged in court indefinitely. If Democrats win both chambers, that changes everything. The investigation machinery transforms from shadow preparation into an existential threat."

Mesa says that although there is a chance the GOP and the Trump cabinet could be investigated in the latter half of the president's term, it all depends on whether the Democratic Party holds a majority in the Senate.

"But none of this moves without the Senate," he wrote. "Ousted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attracted 187 Democratic co-sponsors for impeachment articles—85 percent of the caucus.

"Before Democrats could move forward, Trump fired her, on March 5. Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi said it would 'be malpractice on the part of Democrats' not to impeach her anyway.

"[Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD)] said her handling of the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis at the hands of federal agents 'is undoubtedly a high crime and a misdemeanor.' Yet with a Republican Senate, those articles likely die in the chamber."

GOP reps say they 'have no choice' over ICE funding headache: analysis

GOP representatives do not have long to pass a funding bill for ICE, and doing so may prove impossible, according to party members.

The Republican Party cannot muster the votes necessary to pass a funding bill for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with the Democratic Party standing in the way of a funding measure. The bill would see the Department of Homeland Security reopened after a record-breaking shutdown, though Republican representatives fear there will be no middle ground between the two parties.

Speaking to Politico, Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota claimed the GOP simply has no choice when it comes to securing ICE funding. Donald Trump previously issued a June 1 deadline for a bill that would fund the government agency.

Trump took to Truth Social earlier this week and posted, "We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us."

Sen. Hoeven believes it is not as easy as Trump portrays it, saying, "Democrats have put us where we are, and we have to deal with it. We don't have a choice."

Further complaints from the Democratic Party over funding of the Iran war will cause further issues for the GOP, with Sen. Chris Coons speaking of how he and his colleagues view the problems for the party in power.

Sen. Coons, the Democratic Party's senator for Delaware, said enacting funding through reconciliation "requires no compromise with the other party. And if that becomes the sole way we fund the core functions of government, that is a bad idea."

Even some Republicans aired their concern about a funding bill for the Iran war being backed by the Democratic Party. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole said, "I would prefer not to. We'll wait and see. A lot of that depends on what the Democrats want to do."

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) believes the Democrats' refusal to pass the Border Patrol and ICE funding bill would come back to haunt them. Collins warned it "sets a precedent that they may one day come to regret."

Dems have a chance to flip red state after GOP's 'worst nightmare' came true: analysis

The Democratic Party may feel bolstered by a special election result where they gained ground from the GOP in Donald Trump's backyard.

Such a result at Mar-a-Lago, which tipped to Democratic candidate Emily Gregory over Republican Jon Maples, could give the party some hope of success in Florida ahead of the midterms. The Hill columnist Liz Peek suggested a draft of voters aligned with Democratic Party values now living in Florida could tip the balance in the election later this year.

"For long-time residents of Florida, who enjoy the state’s low taxes, safe streets and sensible pro-business policies, the recent special election was their worst nightmare come true," Peek wrote.

"Millions of people have moved to the Sunshine State in recent years, particularly during the pandemic, attracted to a pleasant quality of life, an unobtrusive government and, for sure, wonderful weather.

"Among that throng have been many Democrats fleeing New York, New Jersey, Illinois, California and other blue states, driven out mainly by those states’ burdensome taxes and high crime rates.

"What are voters thinking? Do they really want to kill the golden goose that has made Florida so livable? Were they lashing out against Donald Trump, willing to sacrifice the benefits of GOP administration just to show their fury?"

Peek has since suggested a "winning message" of "affordability" could be a game-changer in Florida this year, though it would not be enough to kill off the GOP's super majority in Florida.

"The Palm Beach seat-flip was not the only upset recently scored by Democrats in Florida," Peek wrote. "In another special election, Democrat Brian Nathan appears poised to win a state Senate seat in West Tampa and parts of Hillsborough County formerly held by a Republican.

"Most startling was the election last December of the first Democrat to become mayor of Miami in almost 30 years.

"Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by roughly 1.5 million. They have a supermajority in the state House, which won’t be threatened even if Nathan wins. But Democrats are targeting Florida, and across the nation they are, ironically, winning on the “affordability” issue — even though the most expensive places to live in the U.S. right now are all in blue states.

"Between now and the midterm elections, Republicans need to deliver programs that will lower the cost of living."

GOP leader tries to laugh off major Mar-a-Lago bruising — with claim that shuns evidence

A shock victory in a Florida election is being seen as a massive blow to the Republican Party ahead of the midterms — but a leading Republican is shrugging it off.

In fact, Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Steve Scalise bucked widely held beliefs — and claimed his party will be flipping seats in December.

Donald Trump's administration was dealt an embarrassing blow as the Democratic Party flipped the Florida state House seat that contains Mar-a-Lago Tuesday. Winning candidate Emily Gregory took the Florida District 87 state House seat with 51 percent to 49 percent, a margin of just over 750 votes.

Speaking to Raw Story about the reason for the swing to Democratic Party, Scalise suggested it was merely a case of low voter turnout. He said, "Now, special elections are always unique because they're very low turnout.

"You know, surely you look at those and see there are things we can learn and improve upon when the big election comes."

Scalise went on to suggest there had been less focus on the special election in Trump's backyard as the GOP had a larger stake in success at the midterm elections. He said, "And obviously, November is the election that we are focused on. We've still got primaries to go through in a lot of states. There are runoffs in Texas. There's always going to be elections, but the big election is going to be the November midterm.

"And we're laser-focused on that and not only holding the House, but the opportunity to grow our majority. We've got some real opportunities in a number of districts to actually flip more seats from Democrat to Republican, and that's our focus."

The Mar-a-Lago seat flip in the historically red seat shocked pundits, and CNN expert Harry Enten said it was likely a sign of things to come for the GOP.

"What is happening right now in Mar-a-Lago is unlikely to stay a Mar-a-Lago. It is likely to expand nationwide and to expand in the midterm elections as well," he said.

The Mar-a-Lago loss could precede the largest GOP midterm loss in 100 years, according to analysis from The Daily Beast. Martha McHardy wrote, "Historically, the largest House losses include Democrats losing 116 seats in 1894, Republicans losing 77 in 1922, and Democrats losing 72 in 1938, with other notable losses in 1974 and 2010.

"By comparison, the Democrats’ 41‑seat gain in 2018—the largest in 44 years—was still well below 70."

'Obscenity': Trump hammered in Congress for risking US with 'non-stop screwing around'

Democratic Party representatives are calling out Donald Trump and his administration for their flippant style of dealing with the war in Iran.

Trump's admin approved strikes on the Middle Eastern country as part of a joint operation with Israel on February 28. Since then, the president has threatened further strikes and carried out such actions, but he and his cabinet have offered a multitude of different excuses for waging the war.

These excuses have come to a head in Congress, with Sens. Christopher Coons (D-DE) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) calling out Trump for the rhetoric around the war. Coons, speaking with Raw Story Friday, blasted Trump for distancing the US from NATO — especially given the last time the world organization acted on an Article 5 order.

Article 5 states that if a NATO Ally sustains an armed attack, every other member of the Alliance will consider this as an armed attack against all members, and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the attacked Ally.

Coons ridiculed Trump for claiming, "NATO has never stood with us and that we can't count on them."

"Trump repeated the obscenity yesterday," he said, before explaining how the intergovernmental organization had sprung to action in favor of the US. He said, "The only time NATO has actually invoked Article 5 and deployed to war was in defense of us in Afghanistan. A third of the combat deaths [in Afghanistan] were NATO troops.

"I led a bipartisan delegation to Denmark during the same week Trump gave that speech about how NATO had never stood by us, and Senator Tillis and I laid a memorial wreath at the site that remembers the 52 names of those who died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"But the president keeps disrespecting our NATO allies this way, which leads to the unsurprising result that when he didn't consult them before launching a war of choice with Iran, they didn't feel willing to but in to open the Strait of Hormuz."

Kaine added, "The problem with his argument is, he's been non-stop screwing around with NATO allies during his whole time in office. Imposing tariffs on them, threatening to invade a NATO ally, and you know, it is unilateral relations 101 that after you've kicked people around when you suddenly ask people to help when you've kicked them around, they're not going to be that interested.

"So he should stop kicking them around, and then he might get more cooperation. If the president were full-throated in his support of Ukraine, that might be a more parallel argument, but the Europeans are looking and going, 'Well, wait a minute'. Biden was really supportive of Ukraine. What have you done about it? It's not an argument where the president is really standing on solid ground."