- RFK Jr. Cesar Chavez Day
Celebration «
Kennedy Campaign Press Release
Team Kennedy
March 26, 2024
Kennedy Welcomes Nicole Shanahan as His Running Mate
OAKLAND,
CA—MARCH 26, 2024—Independent
Presidential Candidate Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr. today welcomed
attorney, tech entrepreneur, and
philanthropist Nicole Shanahan to
the Kennedy campaign as his vice
presidential running mate during a
sold-out event in Oakland,
California. Shanahan spoke for
nearly 30 minutes sharing her
excitement and reasons for joining
the ticket following a 10-minute
video about her life. [see remarks
below, watch
the live stream here]
“There is only one moment in time
and one candidate that I would step
into this capacity for. That time is
now and that candidate is Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr.,” the 38-year-old VP
pick said.
“I believe, very strongly, that
focusing on the health and
well-being of our youth is the key
to a strong America. That means
honestly looking at the root causes
of where childhood development is
being sidelined. We have the tools
to prioritize American wellness, we
just need to use them.”
Kennedy introduced his running mate
enthusiastically, describing how he
“wanted a VP who will speak for
millennials and Gen Z. Someone who
cares about healing our children,
protecting our environment,
restoring our soils, and getting the
chemicals out of our food, and who
understands how technology will
either enslave us or give us a path
back to freedom and prosperity.”
“From our first meeting,” Kennedy
said, “Nicole’s intellectual
capacity left me awestruck. I knew
right then I wanted her as my vice
president and I knew America was
going to fall in love with her.”
Shanahan’s work on behalf of honest
governance, racial equality,
regenerative agriculture, and
children’s and maternal health has
put her at the forefront of many of
the country’s most urgent needs.
Today’s event reaffirms the key
principles of the Kennedy campaign
of restoring the middle class,
ending the chronic disease epidemic,
unwinding the war machine, and
unraveling corporate capture of our
government agencies.
The Kennedy campaign has launched a
robust ballot access plan to ensure
the Kennedy/Shanahan ticket is on
the ballot in all 50 states and the
District of Columbia.
Kennedy is already on the ballot in
Utah and has collected all the
necessary signatures to be on the
ballot in New Hampshire and Nevada.
In Hawaii, the Hawaii Office of
Elections has confirmed Kennedy
supporters have collected the
required signatures to establish the
“We The People” party in Hawaii.
In addition to those states, the
campaign is already actively
collecting signatures in 17 states
and is kicking off its petition
gathering this week in 19 additional
states that are open and require a
vice presidential candidate, which
includes Alabama, Arkansas,
Connecticut, Florida, Idaho,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota,
Vermont, Virginia, Ohio, and
Pennsylvania.
Kennedy’s surging support across the
country has made the election a
three-way race. A recent Quinnipiac
poll shows him leading Presidents
Biden and Trump nationwide among
voters under 35. An NBC poll shows
34% of people saying they could see
themselves supporting RFK Jr.
Another Quinnipiac Poll discussed on
CNN shows Kennedy in a three-way tie
with Presidents Biden and Trump
among Latinos.
Kennedy leads Presidents Biden and
Trump among independents.
Independents continue to constitute
the largest political bloc in the
U.S., with an average of 43% of U.S.
adults. In contrast, 27% of U.S.
adults identify as Republicans and
27% of U.S. adults identify as
Democrats.
Three months ago, Kennedy returned
to Philadelphia, the birthplace of
the United States, and declared his
independence from the “bankrupt
two-party system.” He did so with
the National Constitution Center
behind him and the words “We the
People” etched into the building by
his side.
“We the people” are the first three
words of the U.S. Constitution.
These words symbolize that our
government draws its power from the
people that it was created to serve.
On Oct. 9, Kennedy said, “Like the
Founding Fathers declared their
independence from the crown more
than two centuries ago, today we
declare our independence from the
corrupting influence of Wall Street
and corporate donors that have
rigged our economy for the few at
the expense of the many.”
Learn more at Kennedy24.com. Visit
our press page here.
# # #
Nicole Shanahan’s Remarks:
Hello everybody and thank you Bobby.
It is so good to be here in Oakland.
This city will always have a special
place in my heart.
I grew up just a few miles from this
very spot. My mother is an immigrant
from Guangzhou, China, and my late
father was an Irish and German
American. I want to tell you a
little bit about them and my
childhood, so you can understand the
source of my politics and
convictions.
My mother's first job when she came
to the United States in 1983 was as
a live-in caretaker to an elderly
woman while attending school. By the
time I was born, she worked as a
secretary at a dental office. My
father loved us dearly, but he was a
troubled man, plagued by substance
abuse, and couldn't really hold onto
a job for very long.
From watching my father and his
struggles, I learned not to be
judgmental. He was doing the best he
could. I think of him when I see the
statistics on the millions of
Americans, the tens of millions, who
are addicted or depressed or
suffering.
This is one of the real epidemics of
our time. It affects nearly every
American family. I wish my
experience was unusual, but it is
not. It has become part of my
determination to do something for
our country.
Every time my dad lost his job, our
family just couldn't cover its
expenses. Food, gas, clothing,
upkeep…it added up to more than we
had. I know a lot of Americans know
exactly what that's like, to be just
one misfortune away from disaster. I
don't think we would have made it
without food stamps. My mom worked
hard, but without that help it just
wouldn't have been possible to hold
it together. Later in life, as you
probably know, I became very
wealthy, but my roots here in
Oakland taught me many things. I
have never forgotten that the
purpose of wealth is to help those
in need. And that's something I want
to bring back to our politics too.
I went to high school at St. Mary's,
also just a few miles from here. In
my junior year I had another
formative experience that is still a
huge part of my political
consciousness. I applied for a
program to go live with families in
El Salvador. In praying with these
families and helping them rebuild
from the civil war there, I learned
what war really is. I learned how it
rips lives apart, how it brutalizes
children, how it visits unspeakable
horror on the innocent. And I also
learned of the resilience of the
human spirit, and its infinite
capacity to heal, to forgive, and to
restore. El Salvador is where I came
to understand war, but more
importantly it is also where I came
to understand peace.
That is what inspired me to my first
political action. In high school, at
the onset of the Iraq War, I became
an anti-war activist. I didn't
really know how to do it — I printed
pamphlets and led a walkout. But I
knew in my bones that violence
begets more violence. I'd seen what
that does to a society. And I didn't
want my country, America, the
country that I love, to be doing
that in the world. So these are two
of the political convictions I still
hold today. To serve peace, and to
help those in poverty. You can
understand why I gravitated toward
the Democratic Party. Because that
was supposed to be the party of
peace, the party of compassion. Many
Democrats still believe in those
ideals, but unfortunately, as an
institution, it has lost its way.
There is only one anti-war candidate
today, one peace candidate, and you
won't find him in the Democratic
Party or the Republican Party. He is
an independent. He is Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.
It is his commitment to peace and to
the welfare of hard-working people
in America that drew me, as a person
of compassion, to his candidacy.
As recently as a year ago, I didn't
think much of Bobby Kennedy.
I didn't think much of him, because
I didn't know much. All I had was
the mainstream media narrative. 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."
So I listened to one. Then to
another. And another. And I
recognized a person who was the
exact opposite of the media slander
of his character. I saw a person of
intelligence, of compassion, and of
reason. I saw a fellow lawyer who
had committed himself to finding the
truth and fighting for the
environment and for people. I
discovered a person who speaks out
on issues that, even though they are
critically important to human health
and welfare, are consistently
ignored by our government. And for
the first time in a long time, I
felt hope for our democracy.
One of those issues also happens to
be a passion of mine and a focus of
my philanthropic work - chronic
disease. I got into it through my
own journey of reproductive health,
followed by a steep learning curve
of caring for my daughter who has an
autism diagnosis. In that journey I
discovered that women's fertility is
in precipitous decline around the
world. We are facing a crisis in
reproductive health, and that's
embedded in the larger epidemic of
chronic disease. Because it has been
so personal for me and my daughter,
I got deep into the research and
consulted some of the best
scientists and doctors. Let me share
what I found. There are three main
causes. One, is the toxic substances
in our environment, like endocrine
disrupting chemicals in our food,
water, and soil, like the pesticide
residues, the industrial pollutants,
the microplastics, the PFAs, the
food additives, and the "forever
chemicals" that have contaminated
nearly every human cell.
Second is electromagnetic pollution.
You don't hear politicians talking
much about that either, but it is
something we need to look at. As
Bobby says, we need to investigate
every possible cause of the chronic
disease epidemic that is devouring
our nation from the inside.
Third, I'm sorry to say, is our own
medications. Pharmaceutical medicine
has its place, but no single safety
study can assess the cumulative
impact of one prescription after
another after another, one shot
after another and another,
throughout the course of
childhood. Conditions like autism
used to be rare. One in ten
thousand. Now it is one in 22 here
in California. Allergies. Obesity.
Anxiety. Depression. Our children
are not well.
Our people are not well. And our
country will not be strong for very
long either if we don't heed this
desperate call for attention.
I've spoken to our government
agencies about this. I've spoken to
senators. I've spoken to governors.
They all know something is wrong,
but none of them take any kind of
action. There is only one candidate
for President who takes the chronic
disease epidemic seriously. It is
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and I will
be his ally in making our nation
healthy again.
It's not about a new pill. It is not
about "finding the cure." We know
the cure is cleaning up our
environment and providing the basic
public goods that are the
foundational conditions for health
and healing. It is about a shift in
our priorities. It is about
compassion. Chronic disease,
addiction, poverty, depression… this
is where Americans are hurting the
most. It is time for politicians to
listen.
So here is how the Kennedy-Shanahan
ticket is going to end the chronic
disease epidemic. While Bobby is
focused on ending the corporate
capture of our regulatory agencies,
I am going to assemble some of the
best technologists and scientists in
the world and we will use the latest
in AI and computation and examine
the health records databases of our
nation and those of other countries
who are also on the quest to solve
chronic disease. We will find
unbiased answers to our most
pressing health concerns within
weeks and not decades. It is time to
move out of the dark ages of
medicine. We can solve the mysteries
guarded by corporate influence. We
can move from bandaid solutions to
root causes, and we can end the
chronic disease epidemic.
My sense is that most American Moms
and dads already know the truth of
the matter, and it is long overdue
that the duty of care owed to the
American family is actually given.
We CAN find the answers,
conclusively. I have a background in
tech, so I tend to think in terms of
data. In my tech days, I developed
AI-powered software to automate
affordable legal services. Well, the
CDC and research institutions have
the data we need. We can apply
technology to figure out what
environmental factors are making us
sick. We just have to ask the right
questions, do the right research,
and apply the right tools. We have
to rid science of the corporate bias
that contaminates it today. Then we
can put the chronic disease epidemic
into reverse.
Actually, the first political issue
to which I applied my tech
background was criminal justice. It
was across the Bay in San Francisco,
where the district attorney's office
needed help examining thousands of
police records thought to contain
evidence of racial bias, wrongful
arrests, and patterns of prejudice.
I put together a team of computer
scientists to develop a
computational method to collate all
these case records, and design a
method for analysis. In short, I got
to see the sorry state of criminal
justice in our country. It isn't
just about policing. It is about the
school-to-prison pipeline. It is
about a broken and dismally
functioning infrastructure. And it
is about recidivism. How do we
provide alternative paths? How do we
make prisons places of
rehabilitation not punishment? These
questions don't have easy answers,
but they ARE the right questions,
and Bobby Kennedy is the only
Presidential candidate who is asking
them.
I'd like to mention one more issue
close to my heart. My interest in
health and solving climate issues
led me into the realm of
agriculture. I realized that a
nation's health comes down to its
soil and the people who work it.
Healthy soil is the foundation of
healthy food. It is the foundation
of a healthy ecosystem and a healthy
climate. It is the foundation of a
healthy economy. But what
politician, besides Bobby Kennedy,
do you hear ever talking about soil?
I've produced two films on this
issue — Common Ground is the latest.
I've talked to Congresspeople and
Senators, but all I've ever gotten
is vague
promises that never amount to real
change. Republicans and Democrats
alike have fallen under the sway of
the big agrochemical companies and
food conglomerates. They might
invoke the ideal of the family farm,
but they have betrayed it again and
again. So I'm entering politics
myself. I've met some of America's
most innovative farmers. Their
methods rebuild soil, sequester
carbon, recharge aquifers, and
revitalize the farm economy. We
don't have to force anyone to
imitate them. All we have to do is
change our system of regulation and
subsidy to support those methods,
instead of extractive corporate
agriculture.
I hope you all understand now what
has brought me into politics as an
independent candidate for vice
president. I am leaving the
Democratic Party to do it, as Mr.
Kennedy has himself. And I want to
say two things about that. First,
even though I'm leaving the party, I
believe I am taking its best ideals
and impulses with me. The Democratic
Party is supposed to be the party of
compassion and peace. It is supposed
to be the party of diplomacy and
science. It is supposed to be the
party of civil liberties and free
speech. And most importantly, the
party of the middle class and the
American Dream. While I know those
ideals still abide within many
Democrats, I want to point out that
the party has lost its way. In its
leadership, in its institutions, it
has become interested in elitism,
celebrity and winning at all costs,
even if that means turning a blind
eye on issues they all know to be
true. I know because I've been in
those circles for the last 8 years
and have grown increasingly tired of
it. It wasn't until I met Bobby and
the people supporting him, that I
felt any hope in the outcome of this
election.
As I've reexamined my Democratic
Party assumptions, I have seen
conservative voters with new eyes
too. I have met hunters and farmers
that are some of the staunchest
conservationists I have ever known,
who understand ecosystems better
than most. I have met mothers
protecting their children who are
searching every possible avenue for
their health. And yet the Republican
Party, like the Democratic, is
letting them down because the
actions of the party are diverting
from the values that actually
support individual freedom. In fact,
the very failure of both parties to
do their job to protect their
founding values has contributed to
the decline of this country in my
lifetime. Maybe that's why I see so
many Republicans disillusioned with
their party as I became
disillusioned with mine. If you are
one of those disillusioned
Republicans, I welcome you to join
me, a disillusioned Democrat, here
in this new movement to unify and
heal America.
This independent movement comes at a
time of extreme division in America
that threatens to tear this country
apart. It is time for a
re-alignment. It is time, as Bobby
Kennedy says, to focus on our
unifying values rather than our
divisions. And so, if anyone is
listening who never considered an
independent candidate, I want to
extend the same invitation, the same
plea to you that my friend did last
year. Please, listen to Bobby
Kennedy in his own words. Take a
close look at his vision for
America. It is a vision that I share
too as I back his campaign, and
focus the next 7 months of my life
getting him on each and every ballot
in this country!
The vision we share is a vision of
national healing. It is an America
that leads the world, no longer
through force of arms, but through
the power of example. It is an
America that wages peace through
diplomacy. It is an America that had
become the sickest industrialized
country on earth and turned it
around. It is an America where
everyone who works hard can afford a
decent life. It is an America where
people of all races receive fair and
equal treatment under the law. It is
an America whose freedoms are the
envy of the world. It is an America
with honest and transparent
government institutions. Can you
imagine that — a country whose
government doesn't lie to you?
People talk about my age. It is
true, I will be the youngest vice
president in American history. Let
me tell you why so many of us young
people have turned away from
politics. It's because we lost hope
that change would ever come from
inside the system. After all,
whichever party wins with promises
of hope and change, or to drain the
swamp, things proceed as normal,
declining bit by bit with each
passing year. So that's one reason.
But the other reason is that we
can't stand the phoniness. We can't
stand the lies. We can't stand the
inauthenticity. And that's why Bobby
Kennedy leads in polls among young
people, we are hearing our voice in
his.
So I come to you today as a former
Democrat. I come to you as a woman
not quite 40. I come to you as
someone who has experienced sickness
and health and poverty and wealth.
And finally, I come to you as a
mother. Most of the philanthropists
I work with are women, other
mothers. Initially, it was as a
mother that I came to support this
campaign. I never thought in a
million years that I would be
running for vice president. No, I
joined the many, many groups of
mothers who support this candidacy.
They are Republicans and Democrats
and independents. They read the
labels in the supermarket and wonder
how to keep their kids healthy. They
watch in anguish as their children
suffer from chronic disease. They
cry silently as their teenagers deal
with depression, anxiety, and
addiction. They do their best to
hold it together. If you ask me who
my heroes are, that's who, it's the
moms trying to make a normal life
for their children in a world that
has gone crazy.
As a mother myself, who knows
firsthand the challenge of a special
needs child, my promise to you is to
make this world a little less crazy.
I will work with Bobby Kennedy to
make America once again a country of
peace, a country of compassion, a
country that is prosperous and free.
This won't happen overnight. But I
have seen the miracles that the
human spirit can accomplish. I have
seen its resilience. I have seen its
tremendous capacity to heal. What is
possible for the human being is
possible also for our nation.
So please join me and Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. in the healing of
America.
-----------------
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Remarks:
I am honored to accept the Mu-wek-ma
Oh-lone Tribe’s endorsement of our
campaign, and I appreciate the trust
the Chairwoman and the tribal
council place in me.
They know the battle for justice and
healing for indigenous people has
occupied a large part of my energies
and of my professional and personal
life.
This work will continue when we are
in the White House. The Mu-wek-ma
Oh-lone Tribe and other tribes
unfairly deprived of federal
recognition deserve to have their
status legitimized.
My father spent a lot of time in
Oakland, conducting hearings for the
poverty program here in 1967 and
campaigning here in 1968.
During his presidential run, he made
an unscheduled visit at Oakland’s
Taylor Memorial Methodist Church
with Willie Brown to meet with NAACP
leadership, members of the Black
Panther Party, and other local
activists.
It was a rancorous meeting, and John
Glenn and Rafer Johnson urged my dad
to walk out as he weathered insults
and threats from some of the crowd.
My dad refused: “This is between
them and me. I need to hear them
out.”
He heard them out, and the next day
virtually all of them signed up to
his campaign and the Black Panther
Party volunteered as his security
detail.
The last time I was in Oakland was
when I served on the trial team in
the Monsanto case. We tried two
cases in this city, and I lived here
for several months.
The Monsanto case was my latest in a
lifetime of battles to get poisons
out of our food and our farms and
restore our soils.
The effort has consumed much of my
life — I wanted a vice president who
shares my passion for wholesome,
healthy foods, regenerative
agriculture, and good soils, and I
found one.
Among other things she has used
cutting-edge technology including AI
to calculate the catastrophic health
consequences of toxins in our soil,
air, and water.
Technology has been a lifelong
passion of my future vice president.
This is important because I also
wanted a VP who shares my
indignation about the participation
of Big Tech as a partner in the
censorship, surveillance, and
information warfare that our
government is currently waging
against the American people.
That is why I’m bringing on someone
with deep insider knowledge about
how big tech uses AI to manipulate
the public. I want a partner with
strong ideas about how to reverse
this dire threat to our democracy
and 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.
She understands that the health of
every American is a national
security issue — her work has proven
time and again that health drives
our economy, that it is the
foundation of our mental health, our
national happiness, and our ability
to lead the world in innovation,
prosperity and peace.
I also wanted an athlete who could
help me inspire Americans to heal
and get them in shape. I'm happy to
report that my vice president is an
avid surfer who attended school on a
softball scholarship.
I wanted someone battle-tested, able
to withstand criticism and
controversy, and all the defamations
and slanders and perjuries that are
thrown against anyone who embarks on
a presidential campaign.
I wanted an advocate who has seen
corruption of our regulatory
authorities firsthand and shares my
indignation about the way it allows
regulated industries to commoditize
our landscapes, our food, our
wildlife, and our children.
I wanted someone who would honor our
traditions as a nation of immigrants
and to also understand that — to be
a nation — we need secure borders.
I wanted a partner who was a gifted
administrator but also possessed the
gift of curiosity and an open,
inquiring mind, and the confidence
to change even her strongest
opinions in the face of contrary
evidence.
I wanted someone with a spiritual
dimension and compassion and
idealism, and above all, a deep love
for the United States of America.
I found that person in a woman who
grew up here in Oakland, the
daughter of immigrants, who overcame
every daunting obstacle and went on
to achieve the American dream.
So that is why I am so proud to
introduce you to the next vice
president of the United States — my
fellow lawyer, a brilliant
scientist, technologist, and fierce
warrior mom — Nicole Shanahan.
Nicole’s personal story began here
in Oakland, the daughter of
impoverished immigrants. She grew up
on food stamps and welfare in this
city, beset by many other unique
challenges, all of which she
overcame. Her very American journey
took her to a career as a patent
attorney and as a Silicon Valley
tech entrepreneur and a Stanford
University fellow.
Like many of us, Nicole assumed our
government was working for our
people, that our defense and
intelligence agencies wanted peace,
that our public health agencies
wanted us to be healthy, that the
USDA supported wholesome food and
family farms, that the EPA would
stand up for clean air and clean
water, that the Fed wanted a
prosperous America, that the
Democratic Party was on the side of
the middle class, the working poor
and Main Street small business
owners, that scientists were
incorruptible and that science was
an exalted search for truth, and
that the president would defend free
speech.
I used to believe that too. Do you
remember those days?
She will tell you that she now
understands that the defense
agencies work for the
military-industrial complex, that
health agencies work for Pharma,
that USDA works for Big Ag and the
processed food cartels, that EPA is
in cahoots with the polluters, that
scientists can be mercenaries, that
government officials sometimes act
as censors, and that the Fed works
for Wall Street and allows
millionaire bankers to prey upon
Main Street and American workers.
This is why Nicole and I both left
the Democratic Party. Our values
haven't changed, the democratic
party has.
The things we love are the same. We
love our families, our children, and
our faith.
We love clean air, clean water,
productive soil, and good food. We
love the wilderness and our purple
mountains’ majesty.
Above all, we love our country. We
want America to live up to her
highest ideals. We want her to be an
exemplary nation again — a global
leader in freedom, opportunity, and
responsible government. We want
America to be a peacemaker and a
moral authority.
We want our children to grow up as I
did, in a country for which they
feel love and pride. We want them to
be healthy and to feel safe, and to
have every opportunity for dignity,
prosperity, and community.
We want them to have confidence in
their futures. We want them to have
the best education. We want America
to be friendly to farmers and
entrepreneurs. We want America to
honor its veterans and its teachers.
We want our scientists to stand up
for science, and our government for
free speech.
Nicole and I share all these values,
and you know what, despite our
artificially orchestrated divisions,
nearly all Americans share do these
values with us.
I am grateful that Nicole has put
her self-interest aside and made the
momentous and difficult decision to
embark with me on this extraordinary
crusade to save our country.
I am happy she is a young person,
only 38 years old, because I want
Nicole to be a champion for the
growing number of millennials and
Gen Z Americans who have lost faith
in their future and pride in our
country. Many in her generation have
stopped believing that the older
people — who have been running our
government for so long — understand
them or represent their interests.
That older generation that now
dominates Congress, the Supreme
Court, and the White House is the
same generation that ran up a $34
trillion debt.
Millennials and Gen Z and their
children will shoulder the burden of
that debt.
It was my Baby Boom generation that
unleashed the epidemic of chronic
disease that has made America the
sickest country on earth.
The only response to this calamity
by government officials is to
gaslight us into pretending that it
is all normal. Nicole and I both
share doubts that the
corporate-captured Uniparty can
produce leaders capable of imagining
a different version of America — a
hopeful vision of the future.
We both have doubts that either the
Democratic or Republican nominees
are capable of dealing with the
complexities and fulfilling the
great promise of a technology-driven
economy.
In the right hands, technology can
be America’s salvation. It can give
us the path out of debt, chaos,
environmental ruin, and chronic
disease.
But we both fear that in the wrong
hands, technology may turn its power
against humanity. We don’t think
that President Trump or President
Biden understand either the promise
or peril of technology sufficiently
to direct its trajectory toward
light, freedom, healing, and
prosperity.
We are now witnessing a dismaying
contest between the two oldest
presidential candidates in history.
Those two men, during their terms as
president, both worked to close our
Main Street businesses for a year
without scientific evidence or
democratic process.
Their policies transferred 4
trillion dollars from the middle
class to a new oligarchy of
billionaires. Their lockdowns helped
create a new billionaire each day
for 500 days. Together, they ran up
a greater debt burden than all
previous presidents combined since
George Washington.
They each want us to hate and fear
the other guy — but to young
Americans, they look like two sides
of the same coin. If we vote for
either of them again, we can expect
— and we will deserve — more of the
same: the annihilation of the middle
class and the further impoverishment
of the working poor, more chronic
disease, more environmental
destruction, more debt, more war,
and fewer constitutional rights.
I’ve asked Nicole to use the
platform of the vice presidency to
speak for ALL the invisible,
voiceless Americans who feel let
down by our government. As your vice
president, Nicole will represent the
working poor who feel forgotten, who
sink every day deeper in debt. She
is going to fight for all those
Americans who know what it’s like to
skip meals to pay for gas, and who
watch food prices spike ever higher
and wonder how they are going to get
through the grocery store checkout
line.
I want her to stand for the children
who are receiving substandard
education, and the veterans who are
feeding their families at soup
kitchens. And the 1.1 million
children whose parents served in
Afghanistan and Iraq and whose
families are silently struggling
with PTSD and traumatic brain
injury.
I want her to represent the mothers
who struggle to protect their
children from bad chemicals, bad
pharmaceuticals, and bad food. As
vice president, she will stand
between them and Big Ag, Big Pharma,
the chemical industry, the processed
food industry, and the government
regulators who are colluding to
poison our kids for profit.
And as vice president, she will
stand up with me against the
military-industrial complex and the
Neocon interventionists and their
forever wars.
In 1932 Franklin Roosevelt appointed
my grandfather Joseph Kennedy to run
his new Securities and Exchange
Commission. My grandfather had been
a stock manipulator and FDR wanted a
chairman who knew the stock market
inside and out to reform it.
In a similar vein, Nicole will stand
up to Silicon Valley, which she
knows inside and out.
And she is going to stand up to Wall
Street, the Big Banks, and the
larcenous K Street lobbies, the
regulatory czars, the unbridled
central bank money-printers, and the
crony capitalists. These are the
actors who have displaced democracy
with greed.
Their cupidity drives our corrupt
campaign finance system, which is
nothing more than a system of
legalized bribery. This is the
system that put agency capture on
steroids and made our government
regulators sock puppets to industry.
The corrupt merger of state and
corporate power now straddles our
nation’s capital like a mythical
harpy, sucking the economic, social,
and moral vitality out of the
nation’s polity of free citizens,
gorging itself on the bleaching
bones of the American middle class.
Nicole is going to help me free our
country from that predatory cabal.
Our independent run for the
presidency is finally going to bring
down the Democrat and Republican
duopoly that gave us ruinous debt,
chronic disease, endless wars,
lockdowns, mandates, agency capture,
and censorship. This is the same
Trump/Biden Uniparty that has
captured and appropriated our
democracy and turned it over to
Blackrock, State Street, Vanguard,
and their other corporate donors.
Nicole Shanahan will help me rally
support for our revolution against
Uniparty rule from both ends of the
traditional Right vs. Left political
spectrum.
Now let me tell you what Nicole and
I are up against, and how we are
going to win.
The New York Times estimates a final
Democratic Party war chest of $3
billion, allowing it to spend more
than any presidential campaign in
history. Incidentally, the
Republican Party will raise about
the same.
Does anybody here think that these
big-money donors are giving out of a
patriotic impulse? No.
They are investing in the Uniparty
because political contributions have
a proven return on investment.
The campaign finance system has
transformed our government from a
model democracy to corporate
kleptocracy.
So we are up against powerful
financial interests.
We also face a determined campaign
to keep us off the ballot by fair
means or foul. Evidently, the
Democrats have little faith in their
candidate’s ability to win the
old-fashioned way — in the voting
booth.
We will overcome these financial and
legal challenges. But I want to talk
about another obstacle that is even
more important.
It is the obstacle of cynicism. It
is the obstacle of fear. It is the
deeply ingrained habit of voting for
someone you have little passion for,
because he is the lesser of two
evils.
Because you are so afraid the other
guy will win.
Well don’t you want to vote FOR
someone, not just against someone?
Don’t you want to vote for a
candidate and a country you can be
proud of?
I know you do, because some 70% of
Americans say that they don’t want
to choose between President Trump
and President Biden.
They don’t want to choose between
the lesser of two evils.
They especially don’t want to choose
between the two men who brought us a
$34 trillion debt, the endless wars,
censorship, chronic disease, and the
corrupt merger of the state and
corporate power.
Republicans and Democrats have taken
turns in office for over 30 years
now and all these problems have just
gotten worse.
That’s why those same polls show my
approval ratings far above those of
Presidents Trump and Biden.
Both Democratic and Republican
parties are looking at those polls
and devising ways to keep me off the
ballot. They are the ones who are
afraid, and so they try to make you
afraid too.
Their principal technique is to call
me a spoiler and instill fear in
Americans that voting for me will
get some terrifying candidate
elected.
Our campaign is a spoiler all right.
It is a spoiler for President Biden
AND for President Trump.
It is a spoiler for the war machine.
It is a spoiler for Wall Street, Big
Ag, Big Tech, and Big Pharma, the
corporate media, and all of the
corrupt politicians and
corporations.
That’s why they are trying to keep
us off the ballot and frighten you
into choosing between the two tired
and unpopular heads of the uniparty.
Millions of Americans will not vote
at all if they are not given another
choice.
Well, Nicole and I are giving you
another choice.
The Democrats and Republicans are
trying to divide America. They tell
us to hate each other, to mistrust
each other, to accuse each other of
treason, and to warn us in
apocalyptic terms that democracy
itself is doomed if the other side
wins.
They turn families against each
other and neighbors against
neighbors.
They are trying to divide America.
But Nicole and I will unite America.
That is our path to victory. That is
how we will win. We will forge an
unstoppable coalition of homeless
Democrats and homeless Republicans
who are ready to look to the
universal values that unite us, all
those things that I want, that
Nicole wants, and that every
conscientious American wants too.
If we can persuade enough Americans
to vote out of hope rather than of
fear, we will win this election in
November.
If you want more of the same, vote
out of fear.
If you want genuine change, take the
risk and join Team Kennedy. Join the
new American Revolution.
What that means is to vote from your
conscience. From your heart. Vote
out of idealism and optimism for
this country. Refuse, above all, to
vote from fear!
If Nicole and I can get Americans to
refuse to vote from fear, we will be
in the White House this November.
Nicole and I are running to help
heal the symptoms of an ailing
America — heal our divisions, heal
our economy, heal our mental and
spiritual and physical health.
But we cannot do it alone.
We need you.
And now I have a governing partner
who will fight for you and your
family until the last corporate
kickback is banished from our
government; the last toxin is
cleared from our water, soil, and
air; until the last American child
gets to live healthy and pursue
their own happiness in this land of
the free.
I’m confident that there is no
American more qualified than Nicole
Shanahan to play this role.
So I’m proud to introduce you all to
the next V.P. of the United States,
Nicole Shanahan.
# # #
REACTIONS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2024
WATCH: Rep. Garcia, Lt. Gov. Davis, and State Senator McMorrow Slam Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and VP Pick Nicole Shanahan
Today, Congressman Robert Garcia, Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Austin Davis, and Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow joined a DNC press call after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. Rep. Garcia, Lt. Gov. Davis, and state Senator McMorrow spoke about the stakes of this November’s election and how RFK Jr. is running a campaign that is being propped up by Trump’s largest donor to be a spoiler for Donald Trump in NovemberWATCH HERE
Read highlights from the press call below:
“Let’s also be very clear who this vice presidential pick is. We're talking about someone that has been a megadonor already to his own super PAC. He is out of money. He is not raising the funds he needs, so of course he's going to turn to donors. He's turning to Trump mega donors to really support this spoiler campaign. … This is who Robert Kennedy selects, essentially a mega donor to fund his campaign with no experience, who is leaning into his anti-vax conspiracy theories, and has no real core as it relates to the truth or science,” said Congressman Robert Garcia. “We've seen, especially in the last few weeks, just the enormous outpouring from his own family just disowning his campaign, standing with President Biden, making sure that people know that not even those that know him the closest would go anywhere near his campaign or his dangerous ideas for this country.”
“We’re doing everything in our power to get President Biden and Vice President Harris reelected, so it's critical that we take seriously every possible obstacle to that goal. And let me be clear, that's exactly what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in this election. He's a spoiler. … But the Kennedy family has denounced this lame attempt, and they've quite frankly stood with President Biden in his reelection effort,” said Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Austin Davis. “The truth is that he was drafted into this race by Donald Trump's top supporters and is being financed in this race by Trump's largest donor. That isn't merely a coincidence. He has no realistic path to victory in Pennsylvania. All he can do is take away votes from President Biden and make it easier for Donald Trump to win, and we simply can't afford to let that happen.”
“We cannot afford Donald Trump to be back in the White House, which is what is going to happen if people don't see RFK for what he actually is, which is Donald Trump with a Kennedy name slapped on him,” said Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow. “This is really what we have to make sure that voters know … This is not a Kennedy in the traditional sense. In fact, every other Kennedy is vocally against him. And that's the message that we have to get out between now and November.”
__________
OPENING STATEMENTS IN THE DNC PRESS CALL:
MATT CORRIDONI: Okay everyone, it looks like we have critical mass and I know we've all been a long afternoon. my name is Matt Corridoni; I'm a spokesperson with the DNC. I'm joined by communications advisor Lis Smith, and Ramsey Reid, who's helping to run the third party project here at the DNC.
More importantly, we arre joined today by Congressman Robert Garcia, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, and Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow. They're here to talk today about Robert F. Kennedy's VP pick and give a response. I'll kick it over to them to each make a few brief remarks and then we'll do a few quick questions at the end. We'll go with Congressman Garcia; we'll then turn it over to the lieutenant governor who will turn over to Senator McMorrow. So congressman, you are all ready to go.
CONGRESSMAN ROBERT GARCIA (CA): Thank you all; thank you all for joining us. Well, I think all of us just observed just a incredibly bizarre event and rollout, which really just goes along with who Robert Kennedy actually is. And I want to just remind folks, obviously being from California, seeing this unfold in my home state.
This is a person that is a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist. He is anti vaccine. He is anti science. He is anti truth and does nothing but put out lies and misinformation that actually damages and hurts public health across this country. And his vice presidential pick, essentially just doubles down on these anti conspiracy—these anti vaccine conspiracies, this anti health agenda that is quite frankly, dangerous, and he should know better.
And I think that we've seen, especially in the last few weeks, just the enormous outpouring from his own family, just disowning his campaign, standing with President Biden, making sure that people know that not even those that know him the closest would go anywhere near his campaign or his dangerous ideas for this country. I think that it's really important.
Let's also be very clear who this vice presidential pick is. I mean, we're talking about someone that has been a mega donor already to his own super PAC. He is out of money; he is not raising the funds he needs. So of course, he's going to turn to donors. He's turning to Trump mega donors to really support this really spoiler campaign. I mean, I think he might, he's likely interested in trying to get Donald Trump elected. Maybe that's what this is about. Many of us are not sure, but he is someone that is, should be should not be taken seriously as a serious person and certainly his campaign is quite dangerous.
And it's not just dangerous for, for, for health, I mean his anti LGBTQ plus comments in the past, his weird ideas around, around science, around how to, how to help working people are just bizarre. And so I want to make that clear.
The last thing I'll say before I turn it over, is I am personally quite offended and just disgusted by his campaign. I lost both of my parents during the pandemic to COVID, early on. These are two people that would have—my mom was a healthcare worker—these are folks that would have taken the vaccine on day one. Of course it wasn't ready at that time. And so to have someone running for the presidency that disparages vaccines, that is causing harm to people like my family, like two parents that I lost during this pandemic, is disgusting and shameful. He should be, he should be ashamed of himself. He should stop running for president on this horrific campaign that he's on right now. And I think there are there are families across this country like mine who have suffered greatly during the pandemic that view this as a very, very dangerous campaign and one that we shouldn't support in any way. And so with that, I'll pass as well. Thank you.
LT. GOV. AUSTIN DAVIS (PA): Thank you so much, Congressman. And again, I'm Austin Davis, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. And look we know that election here in 2024 is going to be close. We don't need to look any further than 2020 and 2016 when Pennsylvania was decided by around 1%. I've spent my time criss crossing our Commonwealth over the past few, few years first as a statewide candidate in 2022, and now as the lieutenant governor, and I've seen firsthand many folks' frustrations with the state of our politics. Black voters are not immune to that frustration. We should not ignore that underlying frustration or stick our heads in the sand about it.
We are doing everything in our power to get President Biden and Vice President Harris reelected, so it's critical that we take seriously every possible obstacle to that goal. And let me be clear, that's exactly what Robert F. Kennedy is in this election. He's a spoiler. He's tried to coast on his family's legacy and the goodwill they have in the African American community. But the Kennedy family has denounced this lame attempt, and they've quite frankly stood with President Obama, President Biden and his reelection effort.
The truth is that he was drafted into this race by Donald Trump's top supporters and is being financed in this race by Trump's largest donor. That isn't merely a coincidence. He has no realistic path to victory in Pennsylvania. All he can do is take away votes from President Biden and make it easier for Donald Trump to win. And we simply can't afford to let that happen.
But since he's going forward with his campaign, it's important that we take a look at what RFK stands for. Since announcing his candidacy as an independent, he's tried to position himself as an advocate for and an ally of black communities. That's frankly outrageous and it's offensive.
At the height of COVID-19, the pandemic, when misinformation about vaccine safety was running rampant in the black community, RFK Jr. was one of the biggest vectors for misinformation on social media. As he had done in the past, he deliberately targeted black Americans with dangerous lies and conspiracy theories, contributing to confusion and mistrust about vaccine safety that endangered the health and well being of our community and our families. That tells you everything you need to know about him. He won't be a leader for black Americans. He's only there for himself and to spread his dangerous lies. And now it's my privilege to turn it over to Senator McMorrow.
STATE SEN. MALLORY MCMORROW (MI): Thanks, LG, and thank you everybody for staying very, very late to spend some time with us. It was really important to me to check in from Michigan and frankly, as a working mom of a young daughter, how horrifying this campaign is, and what it really means on the ground for Michigan.
We know here in my state that the next presidency is going to be decided here in Michigan. We are a pivotal swing state that will be decided by a few thousand votes. There is absolutely no path for Kennedy to become president and he knows that. That is why he picked a VP who can fund, who can buy his way onto the ballot in a number of states.
First of all, that's disgusting and it is an abuse of our democracy. Second, that means that him being in the race means that there is a greater likelihood that Donald Trump will become president again.
Something that I saw throughout the pandemic here in Michigan was a willingness of people like Trump, frankly, in propping up some of the stories and rhetoric of RFK to sow distrust, particularly with women. Women and moms, we will do absolutely anything for our kids. And what we saw throughout the pandemic was women being radicalized, women being scared that there were dark forces out to get their kids. And it started with vaccine conspiracies, and it led right into QAnon, you know it led right into the language that led to me being accused of being a groomer and fearing, having friends fear that somebody was going to show up at my door with a gun and take action.
We can't afford that here in Michigan. We are finally on a path where we have gotten away from Donald Trump. We are moving forward. Our kids are back in school. They are thriving. They are making up for the learning loss that we saw during the COVID 19 pandemic.
And just to get personal for a second. I gave birth in 2021 in the middle of the pandemic in an empty hospital, and it was absolutely terrifying. And that happened because we had a president who encouraged us to stop testing for COVID 19 and maybe to inject bleach because that was somehow a way to get through this. And I firmly believe it took us longer to get out of the pandemic because of this rhetoric, rhetoric that is promoted by people like RFK and his vice president pick. And it connects because it's scary.
We can't afford to go backwards. Right now in Michigan we are seeing measles outbreaks for the first time in years. It's preventable. It doesn't have to happen and we cannot afford Donald Trump to be back in the White House which is what is going to happen if people don't see RFK for what he actually is, which is Donald Trump with a Kennedy name slapped on him.
So thank you so much for joining us. I really, it was important to me to be here just to say how much this means to me personally and for the state. And I will turn it back over to Matt now who will open it up for questions.
American Bridge 21st Century
March 26, 2024
American Bridge 21st Century Statement on RFK Jr. Announcement
After spending weeks floating numerous unqualified names such as New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rogers as potential running mates, RFK Jr. today officially announced an unqualified person as his running mate.In response to RFK Jr.'s announcement, American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Brandon Weathersby released the following statement:
"Nothing says ‘Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is desperate for money to fund his latest vanity project’ like tapping a running mate with even less political experience than him and even fewer helpful ideas to improve the lives of the American people.
“Nicole Shanahan's millions of dollars and her billionaire friends in Silicon Valley aren't going to keep voters from learning about Kennedy's anti-choice record, his support for Russia, and the years he has spent selling snake oil and spewing dangerous lies about health care to vulnerable Americans.
“This ticket has zero chance of winning in November, but it is another way for Kennedy to profit off his famous last name. The only beneficiaries from this quixotic campaign are Kennedy’s bank account, the Trump campaign, and Vladimir Putin.”