Who is Nicole Shanahan? RFK Jr.’s vice president pick is a lawyer who helped bankroll his campaign
As expected, independent presidential aspirant Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tapped little-known Silicon Valley attorney and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan to be his running mate Tuesday.
Shanahan, 38, a big-ticket donor to Kennedy’s campaign, shares many of his views on issues such as the environment and public health — and is also a former member of the Democratic Party.
“I wanted a vice president who shared my passion for wholesome, healthy foods; chemical-free regenerative agriculture; for good soils. And I found exactly the right person,” Kennedy Jr. proclaimed before unveiling Shanahan as his No. 2 Tuesday in Oakland.
Here’s what you need to know about Shanahan, a political neophyte who has never held any kind of elected office before.
Differences with RFK Jr.
Despite Kennedy, 70, painting Shanahan as a kindred spirit, she hasn’t always seen eye to eye with him.
Shanahan was an early backer of Kennedy when he was running for the Democratic nomination against President Biden.
But when Kennedy switched his party affiliation to independent last October, Shanahan was left feeling “incredibly disappointed” and cut back on her donations, according to the New York Times.
But by the start of 2024, Shanahan started coming back around and was taken aback by the support the son of the late Attorney General and senator from New York was receiving.
Shanahan bankrolled RFK Jr.’s campaign
Shanahan has funneled $4.5 million to a Super PAC backing Kennedy, the bulk of which bankrolled a Super Bowl ad that mirrored his uncle John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign spots — reportedly at Shanahan’s suggestion.
She also gave $6,600, the maximum allowed, directly to Kennedy’s campaign during the Democratic primary, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The Silicon Valley lawyer and investor also has a history of donating to Democrats, including $2,800 to spiritual guru Marianne Williamson’s 2020 bid, followed by $25,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020.
During the 2016 election cycle, she donated $5,400 to Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid and later sent money to Democratic congressional hopefuls in 2018.
Shanahan also funds a variety of causes that Kennedy Jr. has championed on the campaign stump, most notably the environment.
Much of her charitable efforts are conducted via the Bia-Echo Foundation, which focuses on environmental, criminal justice, and reproductive issues.
In particular, she has expressed interest in helping women become pregnant as late as in their mid-50s.
Shanahan’s career and upbringing
Shanahan came of age in Oakland to parents who she claims were on food stamps while she was growing up, forcing her to begin working at the age of 12.
“My dad was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia when I was 9, and my Chinese-born mom had only been in the United States for two years when I was born,” Shanahan recounted to San Francisco Magazine in 2021.
“So not only was there no money, there was almost no parental guidance, and as you can imagine with a mentally ill father, there was lots of chaos and fear.”
After graduating from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., Shanahan attended Santa Clara University School of law, graduating in 2014.
In 2013, she founded ClearAccessIP, which uses artificial intelligence to help safeguard intellectual property for patent holders. The firm was later sold off in 2020.
In 2018, Shanahan tied the knot with Google co-founder Sergey Brin, worth an estimated $121 billion, but the duo separate three years later.
In July 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that Shanahan had a brief affair the previous fall with Tesla founder and X CEO Elon Musk. Both Shanahan and Musk denied the story, but her divorce from Brin was finalized in September 2023.
Brin and Shanahan share daughter Echo, who has autism — a diagnosis Shanahan says has motivated some of her philanthropic work dealing with children’s health.
Currently, Shanahan is “committed“ to Jacob Strumwasser, who works in the cryptocurrency industry.
What are Shanahan’s political views?
“I don’t think about [politics] in terms of party. I think about it in terms of people, places and ideas,” she told Puck News in 2022.
One unique take of hers reported by NBC is skepticism of IVF research, which has emerged as a hot-button political issue in recent weeks.
“Many of the IVF clinics are financially incentivized to offer you egg freezing and IVF and not incentivized to offer you other fertility services,” Shanahan vented to the New Yorker in 2023.
She explained that at one point, she looked into IVF, but found that she wouldn’t “actually [be] able to successfully go through a full IVF round.”
On abortion, Shanahan fretted about the death of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and was worried about the fate of Roe v. Wade, but has tried to pitch a unifying message.
“I think the division is so unfortunate, because, at the end of the day, I think we all agree that life is precious, so precious,” she told Puck.
“And I think the narrative of pro-life versus pro-choice is just not the right one for today. The one for today is: Let’s use technology as a connector to bring us together.”
Perhaps the issue that Kennedy is best known for is his skepticism of certain vaccines, including of COVID-19
While Shanahan noted that she received the Moderna vaccine and that her daughter has all her updated shots, she defended Kennedy Jr.’s apprehension.
“Being called an anti-vaxxer is so unfair to the cause of objectively funding scientific research,” she told Newsweek last month.
How did Shanahan meet RFK Jr.?
During her big speech Tuesday, Shanahan recalled that she wasn’t very familiar with the Kennedy scion at first.
“I didn’t think much of him, because I didn’t know much. All I had was the mainstream media narrative,” she recounted.
“But then a friend pulled me aside one day and said, ‘Nicole, please, do me a favor. Just listen to one interview with Bobby Kennedy. Just one.’”
That seemingly created a snowball effect in which she quickly became one of his top financial backers and now his running mate.
Why did RFK Jr. pick Shanahan for VP?
The Kennedy scion publicly floated several names to join his ticket, including New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura.
Ultimately, he landed on Shanahan, who has lower name recognition but retains deep ties to wealthy donors who could give his longshot campaign a boost.
Kennedy Jr. praised Shanahan Tuesday as a “lawyer, brilliant scientist, [and] a fierce warrior mom” and underscored her work on issues near and dear to him.
“Nicole Shanahan,” crowed campaign director Amaryllis Fox, “makes Kennedy-Shanahan the one major presidential ticket that has the rigorous experience and knowledge base to restore our country’s health, boost our people’s wealth, and navigate the coming AI singularity.”
