Robert Kennedy Jr. names California entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as VP pick

March 26 (UPI) -- Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday announced Nicole Shanahan as his vice presidential running mate, saying she "shares my indignation of big tech" as well as his disdain for "information warfare that our government is currently waging against the American people."

Calling Shanahan a "fierce warrior mom," Kennedy said the California attorney is "someone who is battled tested" and who can handle the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign.

Shanahan, 38, was born and raised in Oakland, Calif. -- where Kennedy made the announcement on Tuesday -- and is an entrepreneur and the former wife of Google's co-founder Sergey Brin.

In a video announcement that was played during Tuesday's event, Shanahan said she is the daughter of immigrants and is "half-Chinese, half-caucasian." She said her mother immigrated from China in 1983 and her father suffered from substance abuse, saying that and her background in criminal justice make her relatable to voters.

"In this America, it's going to take communities coming to the White House that have never been to the White House," Shanahan said in the video in which she also expressed, "You learn from a young age we are all made equal."

During Tuesday's announcement, Kennedy said, "I want her to stand up for the children who are receiving a substandard education," adding that Shanahan will "stand with me against the military industrial complex," too.

"Our independent run for the president is finally going to bring down the Democratic and Republican duopoly that gave us this ruinous debt," Kennedy said, referencing what he called a "Trump-Biden uniparty."

Kennedy also said his new running mate will "help inspire Americans to heal, get them back into shape" and noted that she is "an avid surfer who attended school on a softball scholarship."

Before introducing Shanahan, Kennedy said, "Vote from your conscience, vote from your heart, vote out of idealism." And then he added that Americans should "refuse to vote out of fear."

In her video introduction, Shanahan said that, as a young girl, government assistance programs "saved my family, they gave me a chance."

"I know a lot of Americans know what that's like to be one misfortune away from disaster," she said. "I don't think we would have made it without food stamps or government help."

Today, though, she is financially affluent and views her "privilege" as purposeful.

"The purpose of wealth is to help those in need. And I want to bring that back to politics, too. That is the purpose of privilege," Shanahan said.

She said she became an anti-war activist during the Iraq War, saying Kennedy is the only anti-war presidential candidate this year.

And until about a year ago, she said, she didn't know much about Kennedy.

"And then a friend pulled me aside and said, 'Please do me a favor and just listen to an interview with Bobby Kennedy, just one,'" she said. It was then, she said, that she discovered that Kennedy was "the exact opposite" of the news media's characterization of him.

Shanahan also said she was no longer a Democrat.

"Even though I am leaving the party, I believe I am taking the best ideals and impulses with me. The Democratic Party is supposed to the the party of compassion" and "most importantly, the party of the middle class and the American dream."

"While I know many Democrats still abide by those values, I want to point out that I do believe they have lost their way and their leadership," she said.

"The Republican party like the Democratic is letting (voters) down," Shanahan told the crowd. "If you're one of this disillusioned Republicans, I welcome you to join me, a disillusioned Democrat, in this move to heal America."

In addition to using the event to announce his vice presidential running mate, Kennedy also campaigned on familiar themes to his supporters.

He took aim at the older members of Congress and within the Biden and Trump administrations.

"That older generation" he said, "is the same generation and same people who ran up the $34 trillion dollar debt that millennials and Gen Z and their children will shoulder the burden."

He also said many Americans remain unenthusiastic about both either Trump or Biden.

On both Republican and Democrat parties, Kennedy said, "They turn families against each other, neighbors against each other, friends against each other."

He said he and Shanahan want to "end to the warfare state, an incorruptible government" if his campaign "can persuade enough American to vote for hope over fear."

The Kennedy campaign had set a goal to get ballot access in all 50 states, and there are a few dozen states where he is able to soon begin gaining access now that he has announced Shanahan -- a wealthy supporter who previously donated $4 million to a Kennedy-affiliated political committee -- as his vice presidential pick.

Kennedy made his candidacy official April 2023 when he filed his presidential campaign's paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

The son of the slain former senator and attorney general Robert F. Kennedy and nephew to President John F. Kennedy, the younger Kennedy broke with a long-standing family tradition in October when he announced that he was leaving the Democratic Party in order to continue his presidential campaign as a registered independent -- a campaign which Democrats had outwardly opposed, including a majority of his Kennedy clan.

He was the subject of scrutiny by Democrats during a House judiciary committee hearing on the "weaponization" of the federal government in July 2023.

He is a lawyer who focuses on environmental justice. He formerly served as the senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and has said Climate action is among his top priorities.

The 70-year-old was among the most outspoken figures against the COVID-19 vaccine. He founded the anti-vaccine organization Children's Health Defense and during the pandemic had accused former chief medical adviser to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci, of fascism. Kennedy also shared misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines, which led to his Instagram account being shut down.