Robert F Kennedy Jr Names Tech Lawyer Nicole Shanahan as 2024 Running Mate

Robert F Kennedy Jr Names Tech Lawyer Nicole Shanahan as 2024 Running Mate – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has tapped Nicole Shanahan, a tech attorney and prominent philanthropist, as his vice-presidential candidate in an independent bid that has the potential to shake up the 2024 White House race. Kennedy, known for his background in environmental law and controversial views on vaccines and conspiracies, revealed his choice during a campaign gathering on Tuesday in Oakland, California, Shanahan’s birthplace.

In a lengthy speech lasting nearly an hour, Kennedy highlighted Shanahan’s technology expertise as a valuable asset for their campaign, emphasizing her profound understanding of how major tech firms leverage AI to influence voters. Shanahan previously served as the CEO and founder of ClearAccessIP, a legal tech company based in Palo Alto, before its sale in 2020. 

She also held a fellowship at Stanford Law School’s center for legal informatics. “I managed to put a technologist at the forefront,” Kennedy said. “I found a vice-president who shares my indignation about the participation of big tech as a partner in the censorship, surveillance, and the information warfare that our government is currently waging against the American people.”

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Kennedy, aged 70, a member of the renowned US political lineage, which counts former President John F. Kennedy among its ranks, portrayed Shanahan, aged 38, as a new and vibrant perspective in a presidential race dominated by 81-year-old Joe Biden and 77-year-old Donald Trump. “There’s a growing number of millennials and gen Z Americans who have lost faith in their future and lost their pride in our country,” he said.

The announcement took place at the Henry J Kaiser Center for the Arts, a historic landmark in Oakland that has languished in disrepair for decades but is now undergoing restoration. During the event, conservative author Angela Stanton-King noted that despite ongoing renovations, the venue had been made available to the campaign, citing its historical significance, which includes hosting a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1962.

The proceedings commenced with an introduction by members of the local Muwekma Ohlone tribe, whose quest for federal recognition has garnered support from Kennedy. Musical performances of “This Land Is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful” were featured. Speakers included Jay Battacharya, a Stanford professor known for his skepticism toward Covid lockdown measures, and Kelly Ryerson, a public health advocate focusing on chronic illnesses she attributes to toxins in our food supply.

Well over two hours into the extensive announcement event, with most cable news channels having already ended their coverage, former NBA player Metta Sandiford-Artest, previously known as Metta World Peace, took the stage to introduce Shanahan. The aspiring vice president outlined her political objectives, emphasizing her staunch anti-war stance as a shared value with Kennedy’s platform. 

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She then delved into a critique of pharmaceutical companies, attributing her advocacy for children’s health to her personal experience with autism in her family. Democrats are particularly apprehensive about Kennedy potentially drawing votes away from Biden, thus affecting the outcome of the election. Recent polling conducted by Quinnipiac suggests that Kennedy could garner up to 15% of the vote in a contest involving Biden and Trump, reflecting a general lack of enthusiasm for the major party candidates.

Among those shifting allegiance is Marilyn Chin, a Kennedy campaign volunteer who was actively recruiting voters outside the event. Chin, aged 71, revealed that although she had been a lifelong Democratic voter, she was now throwing her support behind Kennedy. “Get out of the duopoly,” she said. “Don’t vote Republican, don’t vote Democrat, start looking for something else.”

Kennedy is poised to encounter a costly and challenging endeavor to secure ballot access across all 50 states, necessitating the collection of hundreds of thousands of signatures. Presently, he has succeeded in securing a spot on the ballot in just one state, Utah. Despite this, the Democratic National Committee has labeled Kennedy as a “stalking horse,” expressing concerns that third-party candidates could have influenced the outcome of the 2016 election in favor of Trump.

In a statement following Kennedy’s announcement, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign called him a “radical leftist” and an “environmental whack job” before stating his campaign would not get very far. The Democratic National Committee called Kennedy’s run a “spoiler campaign” and said it was dangerous for Republican donors to be propping up Kennedy during such a high-stakes election.

Earlier this year, the DNC lodged a federal election complaint against Kennedy and a political action committee supporting his third-party campaign, alleging illegal collusion to secure ballot access in pivotal swing states crucial to Biden’s re-election bid. Kennedy’s campaign has refuted any violations of federal campaign law regarding the prohibition of financial coordination between candidates and external groups.

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Furthermore, Democrats have highlighted that a significant contributor to American Values 2024, the Super PAC endorsing Kennedy, is Tim Mellon, a businessman who has also supported Trump. According to statements provided to the New York Times, Shanahan disclosed contributing $4 million to American Values 2024. Renowned in tech circles as the founder of ClearAccessIP, a startup specializing in software aiding companies in patent management and distribution, Shanahan garnered attention following her 2018 marriage to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. 

Her divorce from Brin in 2022 attracted heightened scrutiny, particularly after a Wall Street Journal report alleging an affair with Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Shanahan vehemently denies these allegations. In February, she played a role in funding a $5 million campaign advertisement for Kennedy during the Super Bowl, which made reference to his uncle John F. Kennedy’s successful 1960 presidential campaign. 

The advertisement faced criticism from Kennedy’s own family, who have distanced themselves from his campaign and his unfounded beliefs regarding vaccines and the Covid pandemic, among other issues. Speaking to the New York Times, Shanahan clarified that she does not identify as an anti-vaxxer but has echoed Kennedy’s discredited assertions regarding the safety of vaccinations. During Tuesday’s event, she officially severed ties with the Democratic Party, asserting that it had “lost its way.”

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“The Democratic party is supposed to be the party of compassion and peace, it is supposed to be the party of diplomacy and science,” she said. “While I know those ideals still abide within many Democrats, I want to point out that the party has lost its way. In its leadership, in its institutions, it has become interested in elitism, celebrity and winning at all costs, even if that means turning a blind eye on issues they all know to be true.”

Kennedy’s stance against vaccination attracted demonstrators during Tuesday’s announcement, among them Wendy Bloom, a registered nurse with 37 years of experience in pediatric cancer units. Bloom stood outside the Oakland convention center holding signs in support of Biden and vaccination.

“Besides being anti-vaccines, he’s not pro-science, and anti-research,” she said. She also dismissed the choice of Shanahan as a running mate. “His choice of VP tells us everything we need to know,” Bloom said. “She has no experience. She’s just a wealthy individual who can help raise money. Voters deserve someone with experience.”