Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced Nicole Shanahan as his vice presidential running mate this week, despite the fact that she has advocated for a number of left-wing causes in the past, including donating to the candidacy of President Joe Biden. The entry of a running mate with no elected experience could have a significant impact on this November’s presidential election.
Shanahan is the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and has donated thousands to Democratic Party-aligned causes, including $30,000 to Biden’s 2020 campaign. The vice presidential candidate has also donated to a number of other groups tied to Democrats.
The candidate also backed significant changes to policing and incarceration policies. She cited the death of George Floyd in 2020 as her support for the initiative.
Kennedy’s candidacy appears to be pulling voters from both major parties. However, the longtime Democrat who ran for that party’s nomination last year appears to be taking more support away from Biden.
A series of national and statewide polls have generally found that when Kennedy is added to the question, Biden loses ground to former President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg/MC poll of Trump-Biden-RFK Jr-West-Stein matchup in swing states:
• North Carolina: Trump +6
• Pennsylvania: Trump +6
• Arizona: Trump +6
• Nevada: Trump +6
• Georgia: Trump +7
• Wisconsin: Trump +2
• Michigan: Tie
——
NORTH CAROLINA
Trump 45% (+6)
Biden… https://t.co/izCJQg6CyB pic.twitter.com/X75HVDsXn3— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) March 26, 2024
Kennedy said that Shanahan had “strong ideas of how to reverse those dire threats to democracy and to our freedoms. I managed to find a technologist at the forefront of AI. She has spent the last decade relying on neural networks, artificial intelligence and cutting-edge science, to identify abuses in our government.”
He also called her “a woman who grew up right here in Oakland. The daughter of migrants who overcame every daunting obstacle and went on to achieve the highest levels of the American dream” and “a fellow lawyer, a brilliant scientist, technologist, a fierce warrior mom.”
Shanahan also said during the campaign event in Oakland this week that she was leaving the Democratic Party stating that the party had “lost their way in their leadership.”
The move was quickly criticized by the Trump 2024 campaign.
