OAKLAND — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. brings his longshot bid for the White House to the Bay Area Tuesday and is expected to announce Oakland native and Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his running mate for his independent presidential campaign.
Speculation has swirled in recent weeks about who’d get the nod to join Kennedy, the son of the late Massachusetts U.S. Senator and Attorney General who was assassinated in Los Angeles while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968.
Many political oddsmakers believed it would be Shanahan, a lawyer and mega-donor with Silicon Valley connections as the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The 38-year-old has no political experience but helped fund an RFK Jr. Super Bowl ad that riffed on a famous 1960 ad for his uncle John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. But Shanahan may best be known for a relationship with Elon Musk that led to her divorce from Brin and severed his relationship with the Tesla founder.
Sergey Brin poses for a picture with Nicole Shanahan on the red carpet before the Breakthrough Prize ceremony at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Kennedy used the build up to his vice presidential pick to spark attention around a campaign largely built around his opposition to vaccines. Top contenders included NFL star quarterback Aaron Rodgers, known to share Kennedy’s vaccine criticisms, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
Kennedy campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear said the vice presidential announcement allows Kennedy to begin collecting signatures in 20 states that require a vice presidential candidate to qualify the ticket for the ballot. They have been gathering signatures in 16 states.
Inside the Kaiser Center auditorium a pair of musicians with a Fender guitar and electric keyboard played rock music while vintage black-and-white photos of Robert F. Kennedy and color nature shots flashed on two large screens flanking the stage. Kennedy’s wife, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress Cheryl Hines, introduced him to the crowd.
Among the gathering wearing a Kennedy 2024 button and ballcap was Joanie Jones. The 70-year-old Richmond woman said she didn’t vote for either Joe Biden or Donald Trump in the 2020 election, “because I was so disgusted” by the choices. But Kennedy won her over with his commitment to “medical freedom,” including not forcing people to get vaccinated.
“That’s all he had to do to get my vote,” said Jones, who said she remembers Kennedy’s father and uncle from her childhood and suspects the government had something to do with their deaths, but that Kennedy is carrying on their tradition. “He’s the freedom candidate,” Jones said.
Others in attendance handed out information postcards outlining Kennedy’s vaccine position, a potential political liability for voters looking for an alternative to Trump and Biden.
“I’m not anti-vax,” the postcard quotes Kennedy. “I want safe vaccines, I want robust science. I want independent regulators who aren’t owned by Pharma!”
Check back for more on this developing story.