【中美创新时报2024 年 3 月 26 日讯】（记者温友平编译）小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪(Robert F. Kennedy Jr.)周二任命华裔硅谷律师、投资者和政治新手妮可·沙纳汉(Nicole Shanahan)为他独立总统竞选的竞选搭档。《纽约时报》记者丽贝卡·戴维斯·奥布莱恩（Rebecca Davis O’Brien）对此作了如下报道。
肯尼迪的顾问和支持者希望此举将为他竞选白宫注入新的活力和财政支持，因为他的竞选团队正在为将他的名字列入州选票而进行数月的法律斗争做准备。
38 岁的沙纳汉曾与谷歌联合创始人谢尔盖·布林 (Sergey Brin) 结婚，在过去的一年里，他向支持肯尼迪的超级政治行动委员会捐赠了 450 万美元，其中包括 400 万美元的捐款，用于支付支持他的超级碗广告费用。她还资助有关健康和环境的研究，肯尼迪——一位传播阴谋论的环境律师和疫苗怀疑论者——已经将这些问题作为他竞选的基石。
最近几周，在美国橄榄球联盟四分卫亚伦·罗杰斯和前明尼苏达州州长杰西·文图拉接近肯尼迪候选名单的榜首之后，沙纳汉成为他最喜欢的副总统人选。
她曾为民主党做出过贡献，包括为拜登总统的 2020 年竞选活动做出过贡献。自去年春天以来，当肯尼迪仍在寻求民主党提名时，她就一直支持肯尼迪。10月，他成为独立候选人，称民主党腐败地阻止了他在初选中挑战拜登的努力。
沙纳汉在上个月接受采访时表示，她最初支持肯尼迪是因为她对他感到“兴奋”，并担心拜登的健康状况。她说，当肯尼迪仍以民主党身份参选时，她只与肯尼迪通过一次电话。
她说，当肯尼迪退党时，她“非常失望”，她认为此举会造成多么“分裂”，这让她感到震惊。 “我有点退出并暂停了所有的政治捐赠。”
一月份，她开始重新参与肯尼迪的竞选活动，她说，当她这样做时，她发现“几乎就像一个由个人组成的秘密社团”在支持他。 “听到人们如何被他的信息和他的意愿所感动，对我来说非常非常有趣，”她说。
题图：独立副总统候选人妮可·沙纳汉周二在加利福尼亚州奥克兰亨利·J·凯撒活动中心举行的竞选活动中发表讲话。JOSH EDELSON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
附原英文报道：
Nicole Shanahan, wealthy lawyer, is RFK Jr.’s vice presidential pick
By Rebecca Davis O’Brien New York Times,Updated March 26, 2024,
OAKLAND — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday named Nicole Shanahan, a Silicon Valley lawyer, investor, and political neophyte, as his running mate in his independent presidential bid.
His advisers and backers hope the move will inject new energy — as well as financial support — into his long-shot bid for the White House, as his campaign gears up for months of legal battles to place his name on state ballots.
Shanahan, 38, who was formerly married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin, has given $4.5 million to super political action committees backing Kennedy over the past year, including a $4 million donation helping to pay for a Super Bowl ad backing him. She also funds research on health and the environment, issues that Kennedy — an environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic who has spread conspiracy theories — has made cornerstones of his campaign.
Shanahan emerged as his favored vice presidential pick in recent weeks, after NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura had been near the top of Kennedy’s shortlist.
She has a history of contributing to Democrats, including to President Biden’s 2020 campaign. She has backed Kennedy since last spring, when he was still seeking the Democratic nomination. In October, he became an independent candidate, saying the Democratic Party had corruptly blocked his efforts to challenge Biden in the primary race.
In an interview last month, Shanahan said she had initially backed Kennedy because she was “excited” by him and was worried about Biden’s health. She said she had spoken with Kennedy only once, on the phone, when he was still running as a Democrat.
When Kennedy left the party, she was “incredibly disappointed,” she said, alarmed by how “divisive” she thought the move was. “I kind of withdrew and paused all my political giving.”
In January she began to reengage with Kennedy’s campaign, and as she did, she said, she found “almost like a secret society of individuals” who were backing him. “It was very, very interesting to me to hear how people have been kind of stirred by his message and his willingness to be out there,” she said.
