Vice President Kamala Harris says that she is “ready to serve.” Whether she officially tops the ticket or not, Harris is the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, and she knows it just as everyone else does.

It was always a popular (and sound) theory to think that President Joe Biden would not finish a second term. He took office older than when Ronald Reagan, the previous oldest president, left office while allegedly dealing with Alzheimer’s disease. It would take a near miracle for Biden to get through eight years of one of the most demanding jobs on the planet in order to leave office on Inauguration Day in 2029 at the age of 86 and not a day sooner.