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Ian Tuttle

OAKLAND, Calif. — <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/robert-kennedy-jr-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Robert F. Kennedy Jr.</a> announced Tuesday that tech lawyer and megadonor <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/26/nicole-shanahan-rfk-jr-running-mate/" target="_blank">Nicole Shanahan</a> would join his independent presidential ticket as his running mate, a move that would provide Kennedy with more ballot access as he pursues his long-shot bid for the White House.

Kennedy, 70, announced his pick<b> </b>in her California hometown, miles from the hub of the technology industry. Shanahan, 38, has grown to prominence as a Bay Area lawyer with deep Silicon Valley ties and was previously married to billionaire Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

“I need someone with a spiritual dimension and compassion and idealism and, above all, a deep love for the United States of America,” Kennedy said. “I found all of those qualities in a woman who grew up right here in Oakland, daughter of immigrants who overcame every daunting obstacle and went on to achieve the highest ideals of the American Dream.”

From 2013 to last year, campaign finance records show Shanahan, who has remained relatively unknown in politics, supported Democrats. She made a $25,000 donation in 2020 in support of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/joe-biden-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Joe Biden</a>. She has contributed up to the maximum limit to his campaign and donated millions to a Kennedy super PAC, including $4 million toward a commercial it ran for him during the Super Bowl. 

In her speech, Shanahan said she was leaving the Democratic Party but “taking the best ideals and impulses” with her.

“The very failure of both parties to do their job to protect their founding values has contributed to the decline of this country in my lifetime,” she said. “Maybe that’s why I see so many Republicans disillusioned with their party as I become disillusioned with mine. If you are one of those disillusioned Republicans, I welcome you to join me, a disillusioned Democrat in this movement to unify and heal America.”

Some Kennedy supporters say Shanahan, who is the daughter of Chinese immigrants, could broaden his appeal among younger voters and women and strengthen his viability as a third-party candidate against the presumptive nominees, Republican <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> and Biden, a Democrat.

The gymnasium was filled with hundreds of supporters waving American flags and cheering as speeches were made ahead of Kennedy’s announcement — and many of the remarks focused on attacking vaccines and public health measures enacted during the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">coronavirus</a> pandemic. After more than an hour, Kennedy came to the stage to name Shanahan as his pick and focused his praise on her experience in technology.

He accused the government of being in cahoots with polluters, pharmaceutical companies, the military-industrial complex and the agricultural industry. He also accused the two major political parties of aligning and no longer being popular among Americans. He called Trump and Biden “tired, unpopular heads of the uniparty” and said his campaign is “a spoiler for President Biden and for President Trump.”

He then said he and Shanahan will work toward convincing Americans that voting for Trump or Biden is voting for “more of the same.”

Shanahan told The Washington Post in February that she was initially drawn to Kennedy’s campaign when he was running last year as a Democrat because of his “message on environmental health,” which is a focus of her philanthropic work. She said she does not oppose vaccines but believes that there should be a “safe space for investigating vaccine safety” and that Kennedy shared her concerns.

When Kennedy left the Democratic presidential contest, Shanahan said, she “had real concerns about what that could do to the election,” describing herself as still being “a massive Democratic Party supporter and down-ballot supporter.” But those concerns eased over time, culminating in her Super Bowl ad decision.

“It became apparent to me that there is a lot more silent support for RFK than I could have ever imagined,” she said. But after the Super Bowl ad, she added, she was not sure how she would continue to support Kennedy.

“I am watching this week by week now,” she said at the time.

Kennedy has pledged to get his name on every state’s ballot, despite facing significant hurdles since leaving the Democratic Party to run as a third-party candidate. Twenty-six states and the District require an independent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/presidential-candidates-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">presidential candidate</a> petitioning for ballot access to submit the name of their running mate, according to <a href="https://ballot-access.org/2023/09/26/September-2023-ballot-access-news-print-edition/" target=_blank>Ballot Access News</a>, giving Kennedy incentive to announce his pick early.

Kennedy had cast a wide net for vice-presidential contenders, speaking with NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, former independent Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, former senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.), former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), motivational speaker Tony Robbins, Discovery Channel host Mike Rowe and Black civil rights lawyer Tricia Lindsay.

The Kennedy campaign said it has collected enough signatures to be on the ballot in Utah, New Hampshire, Hawaii and Nevada. Utah is the only state that has said Kennedy will be on the ballot.

Kennedy launched his campaign as a Democrat in April but switched his affiliation to independent in October — leaving behind his family’s political legacy in the Democratic Party as he has sought support from voters on the left and the right. The environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist has argued without evidence that no vaccine is safe or effective.

Kennedy has not said whether he believes embryos are people, following the Alabama Supreme Court decision last month that had a chilling effect on IVF clinics in the state. Although he has said it should be up to women to decide whether to have an abortion, he has not outlined a policy plan detailing how he would protect <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/25/robert-kennedy-jr-libertarian-ivf-abortion/" target=_blank>abortion access</a>.

Kennedy has appealed to some voters on both sides of the political spectrum, with 9 percent of voters saying they would vote for him rather than Trump or Biden, according to a <a href="https://www.suffolk.edu/-/media/suffolk/documents/academics/research-at-suffolk/suprc/polls/national/2024/3_17_2024_final_national_marginals.pdf?la=en&hash=0957817D7540B0E115BC6DB1BB22D45DE5A10F73" target=_blank>Suffolk University-USA Today</a> poll conducted March 8-11, which found Trump leading Biden slightly, 40 percent to 38 percent. Some Democrats have expressed concern that Kennedy’s third-party bid could siphon support from Biden in the general election and have argued that Republicans have elevated Kennedy, pointing to the support of GOP megadonor Timothy Mellon.

In his uphill and costly battle to gain ballot access, Kennedy met with leaders of the Libertarian Party, and some expressed interest in him as the party’s nominee, which would offer him an easier path to ballot access. But many others in the party have brought up concerns about ideological differences. His campaign has also created his own party, We the People, in some states to ease his path to the ballot.

Meanwhile, the super PAC supporting him, American Values 2024, said it has helped Kennedy gather signatures in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and South Carolina. However, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/09/democrats-complaint-robert-f-kennedy/" target=_blank>Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission</a> alleging that the PAC’s efforts violate federal election law barring coordination between campaigns and independent allies that can raise unlimited amounts of money.

Kennedy has previously complained about the difficulties of running an independent presidential campaign, including selecting a running mate at this early stage, but he said in late February that he was narrowing in on a choice.

“Part of the anti-democratic strategy of requiring petitions for ballot access — when polling or small donor thresholds would be more accurate and less onerous — is forcing independent candidates to name a VP far earlier than a two-party candidate would need to,” Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, Kennedy’s campaign director and daughter-in-law, previously told The Post, adding that the campaign was engaged in a “broad process to find a partner capable of fighting for the true needs of all Americans.”

<i>Maeve Reston contributed to this report.</i>

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for public service (2020)

Winner, Gerald Loeb Award for beat reporting (2021) 

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for public service (2023)

University of Florida, BS in Journalism

Meryl Kornfield is a staff writer on the Politics desk of The Washington Post.

Meryl Kornfield

Lee Walczak Award for Political Analysis, National Press Club, 2013

New York Press Club Award for Political Coverage, 2014

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, MS in journalism

University of California at Santa Cruz, BA in literature

Michael Scherer is a national political reporter at The Washington Post. He was previously the Washington bureau chief for Time magazine, where he also served as the White House correspondent. Before joining Time, he was the Washington correspondent for Salon.com.

Michael Scherer

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