RFK Jr. Chooses Tech Lawyer Nicol Shanahan As Running Mate For President In Oakland

During a rally in Oakland on Tuesday, Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. selected Oakland native and tech lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his running mate for the 2024 election.

Who Kennedy would select as a running mate had drawn more and more interest in recent months because of his rise in the polls.

While Kennedy’s popularity ranges wildly, on average, he is getting above 10% in polling, a threshold not reached since the Ross Perot campaign in 1992. Should he get ballot access to more states and keep this percentage going into later in the year, he could get enough to qualify for the debates.

Months of speculation finally brought forward a short list of candidates earlier this month. Besides Shanahan, the list included Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D), former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (D), former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, NFL Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and motivational speaker Tony Robbins. However, following Shanahan’s payment of a $4 million Super Bowl ad for Kennedy and the announcement city of Kennedy’s pick being revealed to be Oakland, many quickly zeroed in on the Oakland native as the likely pick.

On Tuesday, the rumors were confirmed as Kennedy announced her as his Vice Presidential pick.

Born in Oakland in 1985, Shanahan would go on to graduate from the University of Puget Sound with a Bachelor’s degree, followed by Santa Clara University with a law degree. For several years she was a patent lawyer in Palo Alto, even founding her own firm, and in 2018 married Google co-founder Sergey Brin. In 2020, she sold her legal practice and got involved more with tech companies and started up her own, Bia-Echo, a company dedicated to helping women get pregnant later in life.

During this time she also increased her political stature as a major donor. While she contributed to campaigns in the 2010s, she began donating bigger figures starting in 2020 by giving $150,000 to George Gascon’s campaign to become DA of Los Angeles County. She also gave sizable donations to Joe Biden’s and Pete Buttigieg’s respective campaigns in 2020.

However, following her divorce to Brin in 2023, Shanahan left the Democratic party and began focusing on the independent campaign of RFK Jr. She quickly became one of his largest donors, including advancing the $4 million needed for the Super Bowl ad.  This quickly drove her to be on Kennedy’s shortlist for Vice President, and on Tuesday, Kennedy chose her as his VP candidate.

Kennedy chooses Shanahan

“I am confident that there’s no American more qualified to play this role than Nicole Shanahan,” Kennedy said in Oakland on Tuesday. “I wanted a partner who is a gifted administrator, but also possesses the gift of curiosity, an open, inquiring mind and the confidence to change even her strongest opinions in the face of contrary evidence. I wanted someone with a spiritual dimension and compassion and idealism and, above all, a deep love of the United States of America.”{

“I want Nicole to be a champion to the growing number of millennials and Gen Z Americans who have lost faith in their future and lost their pride in our country. 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. I’m so proud to introduce to you the next vice president the United States, my fellow lawyer, a brilliant scientist, technologist, a fierce warrior mom, Nicole Shanahan.”

Shanahan appeared and added, “This independent movement comes at a time of extreme division in America that threatens to tear this country apart. It is time for a re-alignment. It is time, as Bobby Kennedy says, to focus on our unifying values rather than our divisions. Our children are not well, our people are not well, and our country will not be well for very much longer, if we don’t heed this desperate call for attention.”

“Take a close look at his vision for America. It is a vision that I share, too, as I back his campaign and focus the next seven months of my life getting him on each and every ballot in this country!”

Commentators noted on Tuesday that Californians now have at least 2 of the major VP slots for this election, but also that Shanahan could be a divisive pick among many.

“RFK Jr. is from California, and now his VP choice is too, not to mention Kamala Harris being chosen by Biden,” said political analyst Eloise Johnson to the Globe on Tuesday. “Thrown in Trump and Biden often coming out here for fundraising, and you have California being very well represented in the 2024 election. In fact, RFK and Shanahan could take a bunch of votes in California. We need to see polling data on this, but if they take a lot from Democrats, the GOP may need to decide on if more focus should be placed on the state. I mean, let’s be reasonable, California has been solid blue for decades now for presidential elections, and chances are 2024 will be the same. But let’s wait to see what those polls say.”

“The big thing hurting Shanahan is a bunch of fringe beliefs. She says she isn’t an anti-vaxxer, but many have labeled her as such, especially since she questions vaccine injuries and things like that. And since RFK Jr. is, it’s only tying her closer. She also thinks 5G and wifi signals can cause health problems and has had other fringe theories. Those beliefs pull the vast majority of voters away from them. RFK jr. should have probably gone with somebody who has had political experience to balance out his campaign, but if his campaign needs cash, picking a donor like her can make sense. She is far, far left though.”

The next major VP announcement is expected to come from Donald Trump’s campaign soon.