We may have spent the last 12 months in 2023, but there’s only been one date on everyone’s mind: Nov. 5, 2024.

Yet even if we end up with a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, as seems likely, it won’t be the same election as before. Trump is facing a series of indictments; Biden is wrestling with wars in Ukraine and Gaza; and a slew of third-party candidates threaten to siphon votes from both contenders. Hovering over the political landscape is what exactly a Trump 2.0 presidency would mean.

These are some of the issues that defined 2023 — and understanding them is the only way to be prepared for 2024. Check out these 23 POLITICO Magazine stories, many of them among our top reads of the year, to make sense of the year we just lived through and what to expect next.