By Norman Solomon*
SAN FRANCISCO, USA | 2 May 2026 (IDN) — More than four months after Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Ken Martin announced that he was breaking his promise to release the autopsy report on the 2024 election, the decision remains highly controversial.
Arguments swirl around whether it’s wise to proceed without public scrutiny of what went wrong during the last presidential campaign. But scant attention has been paid to how concealing the autopsy helps Kamala Harris, who currently leads polling among Democrats for the party’s 2028 nomination.
A Political Shield for Harris
As Harris eyes another run, she has a major stake in the DNC continuing to keep the autopsy under wraps—and has much to lose if it reaches the light of day. She must feel gratified when Martin defends keeping the report secret, arguing that the party should not “relitigate” the 2024 election and warning that release of the 200-page document would result in “navel-gazing.”
Release of the full autopsy would likely damage Harris’s chances of becoming president in January 2029. Based partly on interviews with more than 300 Democrats across all 50 states, it reportedly concludes that her unwavering support for U.S. weapons shipments to Israel was a significant factor in her loss to Donald Trump.
Campaign Missteps and Backlash
While pursuing an unsuccessful strategy of courting moderate Republican voters, Harris alienated segments of the Democratic base by fully backing President Joe Biden’s military support for Israel as civilian deaths mounted in Gaza. She maintained Biden’s position of “no daylight” between their policies after he withdrew from the race.
Polling at the Time suggested that this stance harmed her electoral prospects. Yet in her post-election book 107 Days, Harris dismisses antiwar protesters as mere “hecklers.”
Protests and strained responses have marked her subsequent book tour. At one event, demonstrators shouted accusations of complicity in Gaza’s devastation. Harris replied that she was not the president and directed critics toward the White House. At another appearance in Chicago, she pushed back at a protester by questioning their role in discouraging voter turnout.
Financial Questions and Party Dynamics
Renewed scrutiny of Harris’s campaign finances would also be unwelcome. Thirteen months after the election, The New York Times reported that Democratic donors were demanding a clearer accounting of how $1.5 billion was spent during the campaign’s final 15 weeks, which ended in losses across all battleground states.
NBC News later noted that a full financial accounting has yet to be provided, while the DNC disclosed it carried more than $20 million in debt following Harris’s defeat.
Despite these issues, Harris recently told a gathering of influential Black leaders that she is “thinking about” another presidential run, adding that she understands the demands of the office. Observers, including Politico, have interpreted such remarks as strong signals of a 2028 candidacy.
Neutrality or Hidden Advantage?
The last thing Harris would likely welcome is the release of a detailed DNC autopsy highlighting flaws in her 2024 campaign. Such a report could intensify doubts about her viability as the party’s future nominee.
In this context, the DNC’s decision to shelve the autopsy appears to function as a political gift. Signs of alignment are already emerging. Gabriel Uy, the DNC’s national coalitions director, recently informed colleagues that he would soon join Harris’s team again. Other senior staff may follow a similar path.
Under pressure, Martin has suggested he may release only summary “top lines” of the report—a move critics say would amount to selective disclosure rather than transparency.
During a late-April television interview, Martin insisted, “I’m not here to protect anyone,” despite not being asked whether he was doing so—prompting scepticism about his motives.
Echoes of Past Controversies
Martin has emphasised the importance of DNC neutrality in presidential primaries, citing the 2016 controversy in which the committee was accused of favouring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. He has also enforced rules against party officials engaging in primary-related fundraising.
“I am determined to make sure we don’t repeat the same errors of the past,” Martin wrote in Time, stressing that the party must avoid even the perception of favouritism.
Yet by withholding the autopsy report, critics argue, the DNC may be doing exactly that—placing a subtle but significant thumb on the scale for one candidate: Kamala Harris.
*Norman Solomon is national director of RootsAction and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include War Made Invisible and The Blue Road to Trump Hell. [IDN-InDepthNews]