RFK Jr. to announce running mate after process full of speculation

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will unveil his running mate Tuesday in Oakland after a selection process in which he vetted an eclectic group of high-profile people, including New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura and television host Mike Rowe.

But it is a lesser-known San Francisco Bay Area lawyer, Nicole Shanahan, who has emerged as a front-runner. The website Mediaite reported more than a week ago that she is the expected choice, while the campaign -- though it has not confirmed or denied the report -- has acknowledged she is a contender.

Amaryllis Fox, Kennedy's campaign manager, wrote in a post on X that Shanahan had been approached about being the running mate and praised her "body of work." Shananhan, who has donated millions of dollars this year to a pro-Kennedy super PAC, has founded multiple organizations focused on the health of humans and the planet -- a focus that she told ABC News first drew her to Kennedy last year.

Shanahan, 38, did not respond when asked whether Kennedy had offered her the role.

However, in an interview earlier this month with ABC News, which took place before outlets began reporting on Kennedy's conversations with possible contenders, Shanahan offered what she thought would be the candidate's likely criteria.

"I know he cares deeply about health and physically healing people through good public policies. And so, I believe that whoever he picks for VP will come from that background, is my guess," she said.

Shanahan told ABC News during the March 3 interview she had "no idea" whom Kennedy might pick.

Coincidentally, she carries the kind of resume she predicted Kennedy's running mate would possess.

"A lot of the work I do with my foundation and my venture fund is around human and planetary health. If you look at our portfolio, it's kind of all like, how do we fund women's healthy fertility? How do we not just go to these maximalist public health policies that really forget the importance of the individual?" she told ABC News.

"And I think that no candidate has talked about that more than RFK has."

Shanahan, who was married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin before they divorced last year, told ABC News she is a "lifelong Democrat." She donated to Kennedy's campaign when he was running as a Democratic challenger to President Joe Biden.

She said she was initially disappointed when Kennedy removed himself from the Democratic Party's primary last fall to run as an independent.

"I don't know how to support an independent candidate. I've never done it," she recalled thinking.

But by February, she had reconsidered her support for Kennedy -- so much so that she put considerable weight behind his bid with a $4 million donation to a pro-Kennedy group American Values 2024, which helped bankroll an ad that aired during the second quarter of the Super Bowl.

The spot angered members of Kennedy's own family for its riffing on a John F. Kennedy Jr. campaign ad, but it gave renewed attention, at least for a few days, to a campaign that become buried in a news cycle concentrated on the Republican primary.

Earlier this month, Kennedy's vice presidential selection received intense scrutiny after the New York Times reported that Rodgers and Ventura were front-runners for the role.

Both men, like Kennedy, have spread debunked information -- Rodgers and Kennedy about vaccines and Ventura about the 9/11 attacks.

Ventura's son told ABC News earlier this month that his father had not been offered the position.