The Democratic National Committee has launched a review of the 2024 election, sidestepping scrutiny of Biden-Harris campaign decisions to focus instead on outside groups and super PACs.

Democratic strategist Paul Rivera and his team are digging into what went wrong for Democrats this cycle, though the scope appears intentionally limited.

The DNC “after-action review” will not touch questions about now-former President Joe Biden’s decision to seek re-election or whether Harris was the right replacement candidate. The review instead targets allied organizations like Future Forward, which poured roughly $560 million into supporting the Biden-Harris ticket, a figure that dwarfed many state-level operations.

Future Forward’s advertising strategy is expected to face particular criticism. The group heavily invested in television and digital platforms but failed to effectively counter Trump’s messaging.

“We are not interested in second-guessing campaign tactics or decisions of campaign operatives,” Nebraska Democratic Chairwoman Jane Kleeb said last week.

The upcoming report will likely push Democrats away from traditional advertising and toward organizing efforts, a shift that has been debated within party circles for years.

Rivera has conducted over 200 interviews with officials across all fifty states as part of the review process, gathering what amounts to a nationwide assessment of the party’s structural weaknesses.

This approach stands in stark contrast to Republicans’ comprehensive “Growth and Opportunity Project” after their 2012 defeat, which did not shy away from internal criticism.

The DNC envisions its review as creating an actionable playbook for future campaigns, focusing on structural changes rather than individual blame. Still, questions linger about whether this limited scope can address deeper party challenges.