Robert F Kennedy Jr opts for Nicole Shanahan as his VP running mate

RFK Jr said Nicole Shanahan matched what he was looking for in a running mate: someone who had worked to increase access to pesticide-free food, understood tech and AI, and was athletic.

Independent Vice Presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan. Picture: Getty Images via AFP.

Robert F Kennedy Junior, independent candidate for US president, has picked Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan, 38, former wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as his vice-presidential running mate, surprising supporters and critics.

At a rally in Oakland, California on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) Mr Kennedy, nephew of the assassinated former US president John F Kennedy, introduced Ms Shanahan, the daughter of a Chinese immigrant mother and an Irish-American father, to a crowd of supporters, having a week earlier been teasing he would pick American football star Aaron Rodgers.

Kennedy announced his independent run for the White House in October, splitting from the Democrat party of his famous father and uncle, and has been polling typically above 10 per cent nationally since, enough to cause concern for the two leading presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Shanahan, Kennedy said in his speech, matched what he was looking for in a running mate: someone who had worked to increase access to healthy, pesticide-free food, understood tech and AI, and was athletic.

“She understands that the health of every American is a national security issue — her work has proven time and again that health drives our economy, that it is the foundation of our mental health, our national happiness, and our ability to lead the world in innovation, prosperity and peace,” he told the crowd.

“I wanted an advocate who has seen corruption of our regulatory authorities first hand and shares my indignation about the way it allows regulated industries to commoditize our landscapes, our food, our wildlife, and our children”.

Kennedy has made improving Americans’ physical and mental health one of the hallmarks of his campaign, along with a promise to end ‘forever wars’, radically reform the US regulatory agencies (especially pharmaceutical) to free them from corporate influence, enforce free speech, and rein in the US government’s ballooning debt.

Sergey Brin with then wife Nicole Shanahan in 2019.

Shanahan, who was little known outside Silicon Valley circles until rumours of her appointment began circulating days ago, has previously been a donor to Democratic campaigns, including supporting Joe Biden’s election in 2020, and told the crowd she came late to Kennedy’s campaign after a friend told her to listen to an interview.

“I recognised a person who was the exact opposite of the media slander of his character. I saw a person of intelligence, of compassion, and of reason. I saw a fellow lawyer who had committed himself to finding the truth and fighting for the environment and for people,” she said.

Shanahan, who forked out millions of dollars last month to pay for Kennedy’s prime time Superbowl advertisement, was driven to her interest in improving Americans’ health after her own daughter, born in 2018, was diagnosed with autism, she told the crowd.

“We will find unbiased answers to our most pressing health concerns within weeks and not decades. It is time to move out of the dark ages of medicine. We can solve the mysteries guarded by corporate influence,” she said.

Around two dozen states required Mr Kennedy, who has been adamant he will meet the sometimes difficult hurdles to obtain ballot access in all 50 states, to name his Vice-Presidential running mate before applying.

Democrats have been more nervous about Kennedy’s candidacy than Republicans, a concern likely to increase given Shanahan’s history of donating to Democrat causes. Joe Biden’s campaign has reportedly set up a unit dedicated to monitoring and responding to Kennedy’s campaign.