Though nothing has been made official yet, it is widely presumed that President Joe Biden will soon formally announce that he will seek a second term in the White House in 2024.

That eventual announcement will instantly start the clock on the next major decision Biden will have to make for the campaign — whether to keep or replace Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate, according to the Conservative Brief.

There is no consensus on how either option will play out, however, as there is speculation on the one hand that Biden can’t win with Harris by his side and replacing her would improve his odds of victory, while on the other hand, there is legitimate concern among some that replacing Harris could backfire tremendously with portions of the Democratic base and doom Biden’s chances at re-election.

To replace or not replace

RedState‘s Mike Miller recently looked at all of the speculations about VP Harris potentially being replaced and surmised that, even if President Biden were to replace Harris with another black woman, he would likely still face critical outcries of racism and sexism from the Democratic base.

That said, “given Harris’s word-salad silly-speak, lack of depth, and zero demonstrable achievements as vice president, common sense should make booting her even more likely” — with an emphasis on “should.”

Miller noted that Harris’ staunchest defenders have little to rely upon in that endeavor outside of invoking the gender and race cards, and even some of those defenders have nonetheless acknowledged their disappointment in her tenure thus far while still at least mouthing their continued support.

As for Biden, he has little use for Harris as his vice president, save for the fact that she serves as an important “insurance policy” against efforts by Republicans — or his own fellow Democrats — to remove him from office, whether that be through impeachment or invocation of the removal clause of the Constitution’s 25th Amendment.

Miller ultimately concluded for 2024, for admittedly partisan reasons, “I like nothing better than to see Lyin’ Biden and Cackling Kamala on that ticket. In most circumstances, the dynamic duo would all but hand the election to the Republican nominee. However, the current situation in the GOP suggests the party might very well snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

Democrats are admitting that Harris likely can’t win

It should be noted that much of the speculation about VP Harris’ political future is coming from the Democratic left, as evidenced by a recent New York Times article that quoted “dozens of Democrats,” including some who support her, saying that “she had not risen to the challenge of proving herself as a future leader of the party, much less the country.”

“Even some Democrats whom her own advisers referred reporters to for supportive quotes confided privately that they had lost hope in her,” The Times noted.

The outlet further revealed the “quiet panic” that had gripped many Democrats about what to do if Biden doesn’t run for a second term, as most of the individuals interviewed by the newspaper “said flatly that they did not think Ms. Harris could win the presidency in 2024. Some said the party’s biggest challenge would be finding a way to sideline her without inflaming key Democratic constituencies that would take offense.”

Similar to that broadside against the vice president was a Washington Post article about a week earlier that revealed serious “concerns about Harris’s political strength” among a dozen Democratic leaders across the nation.

“Harris’s tenure has been underwhelming, they said, marked by struggles as a communicator and at times near-invisibility, leaving many rank-and-file Democrats unpersuaded that she has the force, charisma, and skill to mount a winning presidential campaign,” the outlet reported.

In the end, it has become painfully obvious to many Democrats and virtually all Republicans that VP Harris is simply a terrible politician who has no business being a heartbeat away from the presidency, much less seated in the Oval Office herself, which may help explain why her approval and favorability numbers are even lower than President Biden’s consistently dismal negative figures in that regard.