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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Picks Philanthropist Nicole Shanahan as Vice Presidential Running Mate

On Tuesday afternoon, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. officially announced Nicole Shanahan as his vice presidential nominee, confirming earlier rumors that he was considering the Bay Area lawyer and philanthropist for the position.

Kennedy officially announced Nicole Shanahan as his running mate at a rally in Oakland, California, on Tuesday. The event showcased various speakers from different backgrounds leading up to Shanahan’s appearance, including former border patrol agent Chris Clem, Menominee linguist Ron Corn Jr., chairwoman of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay area and former Democratic congressional candidate Charlene Nijmeh, and Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine and health research policy at Stanford University, among others.

Organizers affiliated with the We the People Party created by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to assist him with ballot access also collected signatures from the audience.

Although Shanahan doesn’t explicitly have a political background, she is a philanthropist known for donating millions to various causes, notably in areas such as reproductive health, criminal justice reform, and combatting climate change. Additionally, Shanahan has given substantial amounts of money to past Democratic presidential contenders.

According to Forbes, Shanahan has made contributions to the campaigns of Marianne Williamson and Pete Buttigieg. She also donated $25,000 to the Biden Victory Fund after Joe Biden received the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2020. Additionally, an earlier report by the New York Times indicated that Shanahan was a significant contributor to the Super PAC responsible for airing a pro-Kennedy campaign ad during the Super Bowl, providing the group with four million dollars.

Earlier in the month, it was revealed that Kennedy had been in touch with and was considering several options for his vice presidential selection, including former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Several days later, it was revealed in an exclusive report by Mediaite that Kennedy was also considering Nicole Shanahan.

7 Comments

  1. robert capozzi March 28, 2024

    TLK, good question. I’m not a lawyer nor an election expert. Could be. Timing might be key. Perhaps she would stay on the ticket til election day, while making clear that she had no plan to take office.

  2. Thomas Leonard Knapp March 28, 2024

    Robert,

    If Shanahan was replaced as the candidate, wouldn’t the campaign have to refund any money she had contributed above the legal individual maximum for people who aren’t on the ticket?

  3. Seebeck March 27, 2024

    Eric,

    Sforza is not a reliable source since she has no idea how the LP actually operates.

    There is no apparent “back-channel dance” going on here. RFK effectively shut the door on an LP nomination with this choice of a leftist wallet.

  4. robert capozzi March 27, 2024

    ES, yes, RFK’s view on Gaza is greatly disappointing. My sense is Shanahan’s selection represents him giving up on the LP nomination.

    I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by RFK, at least his podcast appearances, aside from Gaza and his housing plan (which I suspect could not happen). As I live in NV, if RFK is an actual contender in November, I might vote for him, as I see potential upsides with him, none with Trump or Biden.

    I don’t wish to encourage dogmatic NAPsterism, which unfortunately the LP is captured by. I’ll just stay home and save an hour.

  5. Eric Sundwall March 27, 2024

    JC: There’s an article on The Hill by Lauren Sforza indicating that Ms. McArdle is ‘confused’ about the selection . . . which should confuse any member wondering what happened to the national nominating convention process, being just that . . . not a rubber stamp by the Chair.

    There’s back channel dance going on here now, like Weld in 2006 in NY. The LP’s gonna end up with a J. Clifton (Mapstead?) for the POTUS choice and get 2% of the electorate, as it should. There’s no getting out of a Red or Blue Reality, PROTEST is the third party purpose in the US until first past the post goes away, thank James Madison!

    Kennedy is dismal on Gaza. End the LP if he’s the nominee.

  6. robert capozzi March 27, 2024

    I submit many are mis-reading the Shanahan pick. RFK needs ballot access. Odds are the LP would not nominate him. So, he picked his own David Koch figure, the billionaire who was the LP’s 1980 VP pick, who largely funded the Clark campaign.

    I doubt we’ll see much of Shanahan going forward. If RFK gains (close to) 50 state ballot access, they will swap in a more credentialed VP candidate, particularly if RFK is polling well enough in the fall that he might actually win, a longshot, to be sure, but Trump and Biden are such awful candidates with no upsides, ya never know…

  7. José Castañeda March 26, 2024

    How does the Libertarian Party respond to this news?

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