The Democratic National Committee is hoping to capitalize on last month’s voting success as it plans a key post-election meeting and looks to turn the page on the White House’s loss.
DNC Chair Jaime Harrison wrote in a keynote first obtained by ABC News that while Democrats fell short in the presidential race, large and historic investments in electoral contests provide a roadmap to success. The party was able to salvage four Senate races in states won by President-elect Donald Trump, and was able to pick up House seats despite headwinds at the top of the ticket.
“As we reflect on the cycle and take stock of where we left off, it’s equally important to assess what worked. The data shows that the work of the DNC and our partners was effective in combating what could have been a larger red tide.” Harrison wrote.
“In 2024, the DNC made strategic campaign grants in every state party for the first time in history, and made record-breaking investments directly to coordinated campaigns in every state — more than $264 million in total,” he added. “These investments yielded results and underscore the importance of continued investment by States Parties…”
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison hits the gavel during the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Aug. 19, 2024.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The memo marks the DNC’s first public and in-depth dissection of the election results, in which Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Trump and Republicans flipped the Senate and retained the House of Representatives.
The document paints a rosy portrait of a party that failed to retain the White House but won Senate races in states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, Trump won key House races in California and New York, and won the gubernatorial race. North Carolina, a state that has been a white whale for Democrats at the federal level.
Harrison writes in detail that despite the disappointments, Trump remained below 50% in the popular vote (he still won), Democrats gained Senate seats in states Trump won and cut the Republican House margin, and the party succeeded in breaking some of the GOP. holding state legislative majorities and in some chambers, including a one-seat majority in the Pennsylvania state House.
The memo highlights the DNC’s efforts in all of those cases, including voter registration efforts, investments in key demographic groups in Senate races, efforts in New York and California to boost chances in House races there, and money sent to traditionally uncompetitive states like Alaska and Arkansas. make state legislative gains.
“Remarkable voting gains in 2024 give us a roadmap of what’s working and where investments matter most,” Harrison wrote.
The release is being released at the start of the Association of Democratic State Committees meeting, where state party leaders will discuss what went right and wrong in November.
The election is fueling a crowded race to lead the DNC, as Harrison is not running for re-election as president, and a broader party considers its identity and whether it should be more centrist, populist, progressive or some combination of the three.
In an interview, Harrison admitted that the election had been a “mixed bag”.
“Of course, we lost the most important election on that ticket, the presidential election, and that breaks my heart,” he said.
“But then when you start looking underneath that race and you start looking at the battlegrounds, and what’s happened in other races, it’s a mix again. Donald Trump didn’t have a coattails. It wasn’t so much this vote. People wanted to say it was on Election Day. , because Democrats still won in many of these battlegrounds.”
Harrison cited several reasons behind the “confused” results.
For one thing, Harris faced a short history after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July, along with economic headwinds and a liberal media ecosystem that still struggles to match Republican heavyweights like Fox News. Trump, Harrison said, emerged as a “cultural” figure in the nine years he was able to form a broad coalition.
“I think timing was definitely a part of it,” Harrison said. “I thought he was going to become some kind of cultural figure. From the initial energy, I have to tell you, man, that convention alone, I felt like something was going to flip. But it didn’t come full circle. And that’s what we have to figure out. Why don’t we have the message? change?
“I don’t know if we need to find our own Joe Rogan (who interviewed the influential podcaster Trump endorsed days before the election), and I’ve heard that from a lot of people, but I think we need to make sure we’re in all of those spaces,” added the Democrat’s expanded media strategy. in the regular and non-regular situations they need.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on stage as she accepts the election at Howard University on November 6, 2024 in Washington.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Still, Harrison found positive signs in the state’s party infrastructure, which Democrats have worked hard to revive after atrophying in recent years.
“We’ve managed to continue those investments. We can’t go back to the post-Obama years, when we reduced the amount of resources the DNC was sending to state parties,” he said. “We’re still trying to work our way back from that time. So now, it’s about focusing on continuing to move forward.”
However, the meeting does not take place in a vacuum, and the present can interfere with discussions about the future.
Biden dropped a bombshell Sunday night when he announced he was pardoning his son, Hunter, on Monday, prompting a flood of Democratic criticism for meddling in Justice Department proceedings.
However, Harrison said he believed the ASDC meeting would stay on track.
“The president is a good man, he’s a decent man, he’s a fair person, and he always tries to do the best thing, and this, I think, is the best thing at this time,” Harrison said. “Almost to a person, the Democrats I’ve talked to, the grassroots activists, the Democrats, the leaders. That’s not going to consume that.”
