In first, US' Sanders picks Muslim to lead campaign

Fresh off announcing a new run at the presidency, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has named a prominent Muslim civil rights lawyer to lead his effort, in a first for a major presidential bid.

Faiz Shakir, a Harvard University graduate and former national political director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), was named campaign manager on Tuesday by the independent senator.

Before the ACLU, Shakir was a senior adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and also advised Nancy Pelosi, the current House majority leader.

During seven years at the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based liberal think tank, he spearheaded an anti-Islamophobia campaign which produced a report, "Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America."

Sanders, a strong spoiler ahead of Hillary Clinton's Democratic nomination for president in 2016, joins a crowded field of hopefuls for the 2020 Democratic nod.

Though an independent, progressive Sanders caucuses with the Democrats.