RFK Jr. names veep choice Nicole Shanahan — who is she?
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. picked a relatively unknown California entrepreneur named Nicole Shanahan to join his long-shot bid for the White House.
Shanahan, a lawyer and business owner who grew up amidst poverty in Oakland, California, is also the very wealthy 38-yearold ex-wife of Google cofounder Sergey Brin. Her addition to the race, Kennedy said during an announcement made from her hometown, will help connect his campaign with “the working poor who feel forgotten.”
“She’s gonna fight for all those Americans who know what it’s like to skip meals to pay for gasoline and watch food prices climb ever higher and wonder how in the world they’re gonna make it through the grocery store checkout line,” he said.
Shanahan’s presence on the ticket — and the money she brings with it — may increase the chances that Kennedy’s campaign can get the pair of them on the ballot in all 50 states, a fact she seemed to acknowledge.
“It is time for a realignment. It is time, as Bobby Kennedy says, to focus on our unifying values rather than our divisions,” she said. “Take a look at his vision for America. It is a vision that I share too, as I spend the next seven months of my life getting him on each and every ballot in this country.”
Kennedy’s campaign cited Shanahan’s work in “honest governance, racial equality, regenerative agriculture, and children’s and maternal health” as reasons for picking her over other potential running mates.
An environmental lawyer, Kennedy is the outspoken outsider of the once-powerful Massachusetts political family. The son of assassinated former U.S. Attorney General and presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy is perhaps best known for his stance on vaccines and his work suing regulatory agencies.
He teased a White House bid as a Democrat, but soon dropped his party affiliation in favor of an independent run at the office once held by his uncle. Since he entered the race, it’s been rumored he was running a “spoiler” campaign aimed at taking votes away from President Joe Biden.
According to Kennedy, that’s only half right.
“Our campaign is a spoiler. I agree with that. It is a spoiler for President Biden and for President Trump,” Kennedy said Tuesday.
Polling averages show Kennedy pulls about 10% of the vote nationally in surveys that include both major party candidates and other third party contenders. In a race with just Trump, Biden, and Kennedy, polling averages show RFK Jr. in third at 12.3%.