David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to former President Obama, said Sunday that President Biden’s decision to step down from the 2024 race was “sad” but “necessary”.

In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Axelrod said the decision Biden made was difficult, and may not be the final chapter the president “imagined” or “deserved.”

“But there is a real focus on the question that he has put in front of people again and again and again and that is who and how can the Democratic Party defeat Donald Trump, and I think in that regard, the party took a step forward today, and the president recognized it and did the hardest thing you can do and stepped aside,” he said.

Axelrod has been a prominent Democratic voice calling for the president to step aside and let someone else take his spot atop the Democratic ticket. After Biden’s NATO press conference last month, Axelrod said the president’s chances of beating Trump were “very very slim.”

Axelrod on Sunday said the Democratic Party will now be singularly focused on who can defeat Trump in November.

Biden quickly moved to endorse Vice President Harris, but Axelrod said some of Harris’s supporters have done a “disservice” by saying “you can’t bypass her.”

“The real case they should be making is why she’d be the strongest candidate” he said, adding that Harris would be a stronger candidate if she was chosen via an open process.

“She may be battle-scarred, but she’s also she’s battle-tested in a way others aren’t and they should be making that case, but I think that people are going to take a hard look at this. Try and open up the process and see if others step forward, others may not,” he said.