Nicole Shanahan emerges as top candidate to be RFK Jr.’s running mate. to become

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign indicated over the weekend that Nicole Shanahan — a Bay Area lawyer and investor who was once married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin — was among the top choices to become Mr. Kennedy’s running mate on his independent presidential ticket.

Ms. Shanahan’s emergence as a possible running mate comes amid a wave of interest in his vice-presidential shortlist, which The New York Times reported last week included star NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura. Since then, other potential candidates have emerged, including Tricia Lindsay, an attorney who has fought vaccine mandates. Mr. Kennedy said last week that he had spoken to Ms. Lindsay, but he did not name Ms. Shanahan.

Ms. Shanahan, 38, was a creative force and primary financier behind a $5 million Super Bowl ad bought and created by a super PAC backing Mr. Kennedy, The Times reported last month. The ad, which used a 1960 presidential campaign ad for Mr. Kennedy’s uncle, John F. Kennedy, was praised in some quarters but also drew criticism from Mr. Kennedy’s relatives, many of whom supported his campaign publicly disavowed.

The media website Mediaite reported on Saturday that Mr. Kennedy planned to appoint Ms. Shanahan as his vice-presidential pick. A person familiar with the campaign said her name recently began circulating because of concerns among people close to the campaign about Mr. Rodgers, but it was not clear whether anything had been decided.

Neither Ms. Shanahan nor Mr. Kennedy responded to requests for comment.

Stefanie Spear, a spokeswoman for the Kennedy campaign, said, “There has been a lot of speculation in the media,” adding that the official announcement would take place on March 26 in Oakland, California.

On Saturday afternoon, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy’s daughter-in-law and also his campaign manager, said in a lengthy post on the social media platform X that the news media “were sure about Aaron, now they’re sure about Nicole. Tomorrow they’ll know for sure from someone else.’

While she confirmed that Ms. Shanahan was among those considered, as was Mr. Rodgers, she did not say in her post who Mr. Kennedy had chosen. She added that she “couldn’t be happier with Bobby’s decision.”

The domain name kennedyshanahan.com was registered on March 13, records show. On Saturday, a payment processing page was live and appeared to be connected to Mr. Kennedy’s campaign website, but on Sunday the page was offline.

In an interview with The Times last month about the Super Bowl ad she helped finance, Ms. Shanahan said she had been an early supporter of Mr. Kennedy’s bid when he ran as a Democrat, but that she was angry with him had become when he left the party. In recent months, she said, she had returned to the Kennedy group and discovered “pockets of silent support everywhere.”