Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, in Oakland, CA on Tuesday, to Democrats’ dismay.
Shanahan, a lawyer and far-left activist, is likely to pull more liberal votes, and could lead to Kennedy’s ticket pulling more potential Biden voters than expected.
RFK Jr. Announces Nicole Shanahan as Running Mate pic.twitter.com/L72k2ACY2o
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) March 27, 2024
Shanahan doesn’t bring much to the political table, as her views are basically the same as Kennedy’s — mostly standard left-wing policies, with some radically liberal policies and vaccine skepticism thrown in.
Voters’ perception of Kennedy tends to lead more moderate than his actual policy positions, though. Shanahan is unlikely to benefit from the same shift in perception, possibly turning away more Republicans and attracting more liberals.
She does, however, have a lot of money, thanks to one of her ex-husbands, a co-founder of Google. An influx of finances is exactly what Kennedy’s campaign needs if it’s planning to qualify for the ballot in more than a few states.
On top of all of that, President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is doing poorly in the polls. Supporters of the presumptive Republican nominee, Former President Donald Trump, are lauding Kennedy’s pick as a step in their favor, as the far-left Shanahan is likely to draw anti-Biden radicals.
Kennedy will likely act as a spoiler, pulling just enough Democrats to lose Biden the general election.
As soon as Kennedy’s event announcing Shananan finished, the DNC hosted a campaign conference call with members of the media, expressing concern over Biden’s re-election chances.
“The call with members of the press took place immediately after Kennedy announced tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his vice presidential running mate at a rally in Oakland, California, and included Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Pennsylvania Lieutenant Gov. Austin Davis, and Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who all fretted that Kennedy would likely ruin any chance of Biden being re-elected,” Fox News reported.
Democrats on the call bemoaned Kennedy’s ticket, expecting him to spoil the election.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) even went so far as to suggest Kennedy and Trump were plotting a conspiracy, saying:
“He’s turning to Trump mega-donors to really support this, really, spoiler campaign. I think he’s likely interested in trying to get Donald Trump elected. Maybe that’s what this is about. And many of us are not sure, but he is someone that should not be taken seriously as a serious person. I mean, certainly, his campaign is quite dangerous.”
So far, one of Trump’s prominent donors has also donated to Kennedy’s campaign, but it’s hardly grounds to claim that anyone is conspiring to include Kennedy as a spoiler.
Even Trump himself has expressed that he thinks Kennedy’s bid will give him a better shot at re-election, claiming that he’s glad Kennedy is in the race, but denouncing Kennedy’s political positions.
Trump supporters shouldn’t let their guard down, though. While Kennedy is most likely to pull voters from the moderate and radical left, his campaign may begin to attract some of the republican “Never Trumpers” looking for a different candidate to vote for.
