Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday spoke to young voters and Americans disillusioned with the country's political climate by calling out Nicole Shanahan, 38, a politically unknown Silicon Valley lawyer and investor. Nominated as vice presidential candidate. He ran his independent presidential bid.
Mr. Shanahan's selection would bring youth and outsider idealism to Mr. Kennedy's ticket. Mr. Kennedy is a political heir whose long campaign in the White House threatens to complicate the electoral calculus between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump.
But it is also a source of financial support. Ms. Shanahan, who was previously married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has already donated more than $4.5 million to support Mr. Kennedy's bid. Kennedy faces a costly effort to get on the ballot in all 50 states, as he has said he would. He also has a tighter timeline for naming a running mate, as some states require a full ticket to petition to put an independent candidate on the ballot.
“I found exactly the right person,” Kennedy announced at a rally in Oakland, California. He praised Shanahan as a “talented administrator” and a “fierce warrior mother” with experience in dealing with artificial intelligence and intellectual property issues, calling her “a fierce warrior who overcomes every difficult obstacle.” “She is a daughter of immigrants who overcame and continued to achieve at the highest level.” of the American dream. ”
Mr. Shanahan, who took the stage more than 30 minutes after Mr. Kennedy announced him as his running mate, talked about his campaign themes, including skepticism about vaccines, concerns about chronic disease and corruption in the United States. He repeatedly appealed for Republican support. A cleaner environment and the elimination of pesticides and genetically modified foods.
“The very failure of both parties to live up to their duty to uphold our founding values contributed to the decline of this country during my lifetime,” said Shanahan, who describes himself as a lifelong Democrat. Told. “Maybe that's why I see so many Republicans becoming disillusioned with their party the same way I'm disillusioned with mine. If you If you are a disillusioned Republican, you are welcome to join me, a disillusioned Democrat, in the movement to unite and heal America.”
As recently as last month, Mr. Shanahan's only public connection to Mr. Kennedy was that he donated $4 million to fund a Super Bowl ad supporting Mr. Kennedy.
Although she is trained as a lawyer, her work in recent years has focused on funding health and environmental research, and Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theory promoter, has focused on funding health and environmental research. , an issue that is the basis of the election campaign.
Ms. Shanahan spoke more than two hours into the rally after a long parade of speakers who variously criticized school closures during the pandemic, carcinogenic pesticides in America's food supply, and the U.S. government's “corporate capture.” He took the stage on Tuesday. They called for censorship of dissident voices in mainstream news media.
One of the speakers, Karrie Means, founder of a supplement and health company, said, “At no time in American history has it been more beneficial to express economic facts in an emotional way than in sick or chronically ill children.'' This means that there was no such invention.” Another speaker was former NBA player Metta Sandiford Artest, formerly known as Ron Artest and Metta World Peace.
After mentioning Shanahan's name, Kennedy spoke at length alone on stage, saying she would stand up to Wall Street, “crony capitalists” and Silicon Valley. He later said she was “going to help us liberate our country” from the “corrupt amalgamation of state and corporate power that now straddles our nation's capital like a mythical harpy.”
Shanahan appeared before Tuesday's audience for the first time in a pre-recorded video in which she discussed how her young daughter's autism diagnosis led her to research into chronic diseases and environmental toxins. I explained how it was connected. Although she did not mention vaccines, the experience and her interest in the subject seemed to speak to a remarkable aspect of Mr. Kennedy's base. Parents are skeptical of childhood vaccinations and criticize medical institutions that they say are forcing medical intervention on children.
Shanahan appeared teary-eyed at first when she took to the stage, but as she spoke, her voice became firmer as she described her difficult childhood in Oakland. Her mother, who was in the audience, immigrated from China, where she worked as a janitor and secretary. Her father was often unemployed and he struggled with substance abuse, she said.
In his remarks, Shanahan described a “reproductive health crisis embedded in a chronic disease pandemic” and attributed the cause to “electromagnetic pollution,” toxic substances in the environment. ! ” from the woman behind the cavernous event space, and the drugs. She said chronic disease would be a major focus of her candidacy and the Kennedy White House.
Mr. Shanahan has emerged as Mr. Kennedy's preferred running mate in recent weeks, although NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura had been at the top of the list. .
She has a history of contributing to the Democratic Party, including Biden's 2020 campaign. She has been supporting Kennedy since last spring, when he was still seeking the Democratic nomination. She claimed in October that Democrats illegally thwarted her efforts to challenge Biden in the primary, making her an independent candidate.
Mr. Shanahan said in an interview last month that he initially supported Mr. Kennedy because he was “excited” about him and was concerned about Mr. Biden's health. She said she had only spoken to Kennedy once by phone, when he was still running as a Democrat.
She said she was “incredibly disappointed” when Mr Kennedy left the party and worried how “divisive” the move was. She said: “I kind of stepped back and suspended all political donations.”
It wasn't until January that she started getting involved again with Mr Kennedy's campaign, and in doing so discovered “something of a secret society of individuals” supporting Mr Kennedy, she said. she said. “It was very, very interesting for me to hear how people were moved by his message and his willingness to get out there,” she said.
She told The New York Times that she donated heavily to finance a Super Bowl ad supporting Mr. Kennedy, which was bought by an allied super PAC, and that she provided creative guidance. The ad, which reused a 1960 ad by Mr. Kennedy's uncle John F. Kennedy, drew criticism from members of the Kennedy family, who have clearly distanced themselves from the campaign.
Biden's Democratic supporters worry that Kennedy could swing the election to Trump, but polls show Kennedy siphoning more votes from any candidate in the major parties. The situation remains unclear. A recent Fox News national poll puts his approval rating at about 13 percent, leaving him with about the same percentage of voters behind his leading rival.
Still, Democrats launched a legal attack on Mr. Kennedy aimed at blocking him from voting, especially in key battleground states.
“We're going to have to do something about it,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California said on a phone call set up by the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday following Mr. Kennedy's announcement. His anti-vaccine conspiracy theories have no real kernel of truth or science. ”
Mr. Trump's allies also appeared wary of Mr. Kennedy on Tuesday.
A super PAC supporting the former president issued a statement describing Kennedy as “a far-left liberal with a far-left liberal running mate.”
“RFK Jr. is a radical leftist, an environmental activist who loves electric vehicle mandates and wants to eliminate gasoline engines,” Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chan later said. He is not an independent person. ”
Michael Gold contributed reporting