Faiz Shakir, the longtime adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders, told CBS News on Thursday that he believes the Vermont lawmaker will seriously consider a bid for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination if President Joe Biden does not run.
"I assume that he would give it a hard look," Shakir said. "I don't want to make the judgment for him. Obviously, it would be his choice to make. But I assume that he would want to reevaluate it."
Shakir added, that Sanders, age 81, is "very aware that he's older now and he'd have to make a real judgment about his own vigor and his stamina and his desire and hunger and passion to do this a third time. But if it were an open field? Yeah, I'm confident he would take another look at it and say, 'Do I want to do this or not?'"
Sanders sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, urging Democrats to rally working voters and young people for what he called a political "revolution."
Shakir noted that Mr. Biden has repeatedly suggested that he would run for reelection and said that he, as an adviser to Sanders, is not personally taking any steps to prepare for scenario where Biden does not run.
"Personally, I take President Biden at his word and our orbit takes him at his word that he's taking it seriously and presume that he is leaning toward yes," Shakir told CBS News.
Earlier this week, Shakir, who managed Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign and remains a top adviser to the senator, stirred debate inside the Democratic Party after publishing an opinion piece in The New York Times arguing against the push by Mr. Biden and his allies to revamp the 2024 primary calendar by making the South Carolina primary the first voting contest in the race.
Robert Costa is CBS News' chief election and campaign correspondent based in Washington, D.C.
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