diff --git a/src/v/cluster/partition.h b/src/v/cluster/partition.h
index 18f66fbd3f3c1..2a5dfcdeb4d3d 100644
--- a/src/v/cluster/partition.h
+++ b/src/v/cluster/partition.h
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ class partition : public ss::enable_lw_shared_from_this<partition> {
     // dirty so that it gets reuploaded
     ss::future<> restart_archiver(bool should_notify_topic_config);
 
-    consensus_ptr _raft;
+    consensus_ptr _raft; // never null
     ss::shared_ptr<cluster::log_eviction_stm> _log_eviction_stm;
     ss::shared_ptr<cluster::rm_stm> _rm_stm;
     ss::shared_ptr<archival_metadata_stm> _archival_meta_stm;