In a recent interview published online on Tuesday, August 20th, Nicole Shanahan, the running mate of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 U.S. election, revealed that Kennedy is considering dropping out of the race and “joining forces” with the Republican presidential nominee and former President Trump.
Shanahan expressed that as independent candidates, she and Kennedy could potentially draw away Trump’s potential voters, thus clearing the path for the Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz to win the November election.
During a podcast episode on the “Impact Theory” by a media company in Los Angeles, Shanahan stated, “We have two options under consideration – one is to stay and form a new political party, but we run the risk of helping Harris and Walz win the presidency because we took votes away from Trump, or rather, we somehow managed to take even more votes from Trump.”
Shanahan then disclosed another option for Kennedy’s campaign team to the interviewer Tom Bilyeu, saying, “Or we leave now and team up with Donald Trump, you know, we withdraw from the race and explain to our base voters why we are making this decision.”
“It’s not easy, not an easy decision to make,” added the female lawyer and entrepreneur.
Bilyeu posted on the social media platform X that the interview was recorded on Monday.
Kennedy also hinted at his decision in an X post on Tuesday, writing: “As always, I am willing to talk to leaders of any party to advance the goals I have worked for in my career and in this campaign for 40 years.”
Seventy-year-old Kennedy announced his withdrawal from the Democratic primary last October and continued his presidential campaign as an independent candidate. In late March of this year, he announced the selection of 38-year-old Shanahan as his running mate, making her the first Asian-American vice-presidential candidate in the United States.
Kennedy is the son of former U.S. Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. When Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 while running for the Democratic presidential nomination, he was a sitting senator.
Kennedy is also the nephew of John F. Kennedy, the former president who was assassinated in 1963.
After Trump survived an attempted assassination at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th, he called for the Secret Service protection to be provided to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. considering the history of the Kennedy family. President Biden later approved this request.