RFK Jr announces 2024 running mate as he speaks at huge rally in US – ‘She will represent those who feel forgotten!’
Robert F Kennedy Jr has announced his running mate ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The Independent candidate has chosen California-based lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his US vice presidential pick.
RFK has bypassed better-known potential candidates such as National Football League star Aaron Rodgers.
Speaking at a lengthy campaign event in Oakland, the 70-year-old candidate said Shanahan is a self-starter who grew up in a Californian family that relied on food stamps to get by.
He said: “As your vice president, Nicole will represent the working poor who feel forgotten, who spend every day getting deeper into debt.”
Shanahan is the president of the private Bia-Echo Foundation, which invests in reproductive health, including helping women bear children at older ages, criminal justice reform and environmental issues.
Kennedy, 70, an environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist, is hoping to use the selection to help build credibility and momentum in his long-shot bet that Americans are so frustrated with Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump that they will pick a third party.
At the event, RFK laid out some of his policy positions, including his desire to re-litigate the COVID-19 lockdowns and attack the pharmaceutical industry.
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One of those at the rally was Julian Salas, a 28-year-old guitar repairman who lives in Oakland who was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a hand-written Free Palestine slogan.
He said: “When I hear him speak he’s the only candidate I feel has real authenticity and a desire to serve. I typically vote more Democrat but so much of the party is for things I don’t agree with, like vaccine mandates or surveillance.”
According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, Kennedy is backed by 15 per cent of registered voters, versus 39 per cent for Biden and 38 per cent for Trump.
The Democratic National Committee and many political strategists say Kennedy’s campaign could be a “spoiler” in the 2024 election that would help elect Trump.
Kennedy has collected the required amount of signatures to get on the ballot in four states, but a petition in Nevada is being contested.
No Labels, another independent group this election cycle, is on the ballot in 18 states, though it has not yet announced its ticket.