RFK, Jr. Running Mate: Nicole Shanahan

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.has picked Nicole Shanahan, a California-based attorney who was previously married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as his running mate for his long-shot presidential bid, according to people familiar with the decision.

Shanahan, 38, also runs a foundation focused on reproductive rights, criminal justice and the environment. Before backing Kennedy’s independent bid, Shanahan had previously been a donor to Democratic campaigns, including supporting Joe Biden’s election in 2020. Kennedy was slated to announce his choice Tuesday in Oakland, Calif., where Shanahan grew up.

The Kennedy campaign declined to comment. Shanahan didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer from America’s most famous political dynasty, is currently working to get on the ballot in every state after leaving the Democratic primary to run as an independent. Each state has different requirements to appear on a ballot as an independent, including selecting a running mate in some states. Getting on those ballots will be an expensive proposition for the Kennedy campaign; it isn’t clear yet whether Shanahan plans to assist by tapping into her own wealth.

While he has little chance of victory, Kennedy’s candidacy could make a difference in competitive states that will decide whether President Biden or former President Donald Trump wins in November. Democrats are especially worried that he could hurt Biden’s candidacy and have amped up attacks in recent weeks, though some polls have shown Kennedy drawing more support away from Trump.

Shanahan, a political novice, was thrust into the spotlight over her public split with Brin amid a brief alleged affair she had with Elon Musk in 2021 that ruptured the billionaires’ long friendship, The Wall Street Journal reported. After the article published, Musk denied the allegations and Shanahan later followed suit.

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In addition to donating to Kennedy’s campaign, Shanahan told the New York Times she donated $4 million to the Kennedy-aligned super PAC that ran the Super Bowl ad supporting his candidacy. Shanahan not only paid for a significant portion of the controversial ad—which repurposed an ad from when his uncle John F. Kennedy Jr. ran for president and caused controversy with some members of his family—but she was a key force in the ad’s production.

She has said that she aligns with Kennedy on issues such as vaccine skepticism and the environment. Kennedy is known for his claims—debunked by public-health experts—linking childhood vaccinations to autism and casting doubt on the safety of Covid-19 vaccines. In an interview with the Journal last year Kennedy said he wasn’t antivaccine but believed they should go through more rigorous scrutiny. Shanahan used a similar line in her New York Times interview.

Kennedy also has questioned whether prescription drugs have caused a rise in school shootings and whether Wi-Fi exposure leads to cancer. He has said that the Central Intelligence Agency assassinated his uncle and could have killed his father, Robert F. Kennedy, despite no concrete evidence. And he has said the U.S. is perpetuating Ukraine war to fuel the defense industry.

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Shanahan grew up in Oakland as the daughter of a Chinese immigrant mother who worked as an accountant and a father who struggled with mental health issues. She told People that she coped with her challenging childhood by throwing herself into school. She went to University of Puget Sound, then Santa Clara University for law school and later had a fellowship at CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics.

In 2013 Shanahan founded ClearAccessIP, a platform for managing patents. The company was sold to IPwe in 2020.

Ahead of the announcement, Kennedy’s campaign manager confirmed on X that Shanahan was under consideration, along with several others including New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs.

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