Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s pick to be his running mate in his independent bid for president, brings youth and considerable wealth to Kennedy’s long-shot marketing campaign however is little identified exterior Silicon Valley.
Shanahan, 38, is a California lawyer and philanthropist. Shanahan leads the Bia-Echo Basis, a company she based to direct cash towards points together with ladies’s reproductive science, legal justice reform and environmental causes. She is also a Stanford College fellow and was the founder and chief government of ClearAccessIP, a patent administration agency that was offered in 2020.
On Tuesday, Shanahan talked about her hardscrabble upbringing in Oakland, the daughter of a mom who immigrated from China and an Irish and German-American father “plagued by substance abuse” who “struggled to keep a job.” Relating her household’s reliance on authorities help, Shanahan stated that, though she had change into “very wealthy later on in life,” she felt she might relate to People being “just one misfortune away from disaster.”
“The purpose of wealth is to help those in need. That’s what it’s for,” Shanahan stated. “And I want to bring that back to politics, too. That is the purpose of privilege.”
She additionally referenced discredited theories about vaccines as Kennedy and his allies have been accused of doing.
The lawyer talked about her general ardour to assist combat “chronic disease,” referencing her personal struggles with fertility and her five-year-old daughter, who she stated has autism. Shanahan cited “toxic substances in our environment,” “electromagnetic pollution” from gadgets like cellphones and — drawing her largest applause of the day — the dearth of analysis surrounding long-term results of childhood vaccinations.
“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,” she stated.
Any hyperlink between vaccines and autism has lengthy been debunked, and repeated scientific research within the U.S. and overseas have discovered no proof that vaccines may cause autism. Analysis has additionally discredited considerations that kids get too many vaccines without delay.
Vaccines have been confirmed to be secure and efficient in laboratory testing and in actual world use in a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of individuals over a long time. The World Well being Group credit childhood vaccines with preventing as many as 5 million deaths a year.
Whereas no medical intervention is risk-free, medical doctors and researchers have confirmed that dangers from illness are typically far larger than the dangers from vaccines.
Shanahan was married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin from 2018 to 2023, and so they have a younger daughter. She was raised within the San Francisco Bay Space, the place Kennedy made his announcement.
Earlier than the announcement, Kennedy’s marketing campaign supervisor and daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, praised Shanahan’s work on behalf of “honest governance, racial equity, regenerative agriculture and children’s and maternal health.” She stated the work “reflects many of our country’s most urgent needs.”
Kennedy, who stated in an interview Monday with “The State of California” on KCBS radio that his VP search positioned a precedence on ”someone who might symbolize younger individuals,” stated Tuesday that Shanahan — who he stated, like him, has “left the Democratic Party” — additionally shares his considerations about authorities overreach and his mistrust in main political events’ skills to make lasting change.
“She’ll tell you that she now understands at the defense agencies work for the military industrial complex, that health agencies work for big pharma and the USDA works for big ag and the processed food cartels,” Kennedy stated at his Oakland rally. “The EPA is in cahoots with the polluters, that the scientists can be mercenaries, that government officials sometimes act as censors, and that the Fed works for Wall Street and allows millionaire bankers to prey upon on Main Street and the American worker.”
Kennedy additionally stated that, partly, Shanahan’s heritage performed not less than some function in his choice of her.
“I wanted someone who would honor the traditions our nation, as a nation of immigrants, but who also understands that to be a nation, we need to secure borders,” he stated.
Kennedy had beforehand signaled curiosity in selecting a star or a family identify comparable to NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, “Dirty Jobs” star Mike Rowe or former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who was a wrestler and actor.
In keeping with marketing campaign finance information, Shanahan has lengthy donated to Democratic candidates, together with giving the utmost quantity allowed to Kennedy when he was nonetheless pursuing that social gathering’s nomination earlier than switching to an independent bid in October.
It was unclear if Shanahan would use her personal cash on the marketing campaign, however she has already opened her pockets to again Kennedy.
She was a driving drive and the first donor behind a Super Bowl ad produced by a pro-Kennedy tremendous PAC, American Values 2024, for which she contributed $4 million. In response to criticism following the advert’s launch, the tremendous PAC stated its “idea, funding, and execution came primarily” from Shanahan.
The tremendous PAC can settle for limitless funds however is legally barred from coordinating with Kennedy’s crew.
However as a candidate for vp, Shanahan can provide limitless sums to the marketing campaign straight. That’s doubtlessly an enormous increase for Kennedy’s costly push to get on the ballot in all 50 states, an endeavor he has stated will price $15 million and require accumulating greater than 1 million signatures.
___
Jonathan J. Cooper contributed from Oakland.
