Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate is making headlines Wednesday for all the wrong reasons.
Nicole Shanahan, the billionaire California lawyer and philanthropist, reportedly “partied with Silicon Valley’s elite and used recreational drugs including cocaine, ketamine and psychedelic mushrooms,” according to a new report from The New York Times.
The report also claims she split with her former husband, Sergey Brin, a founder of Google, after “she had a sexual encounter with Elon Musk in 2021.”
According to people interviewed by the Times, it was part of a pattern.
Shanahan’s first husband, tech investor Jeremy Kranz, “filed to annul the marriage 27 days after the wedding” after he discovered she had an affair only weeks before their wedding.
Shanahan has never held elected office. She leads Bia-Echo Foundation, an organization she founded to direct money toward issues including women’s reproductive science, criminal justice reform and environmental causes.
She’s deeply enmeshed in the Silicon Valley technology culture.
According to campaign finance records, Shanahan has long donated to Democratic candidates, including giving the maximum amount allowed to Kennedy when he was still pursuing that party’s nomination before switching to an independent bid in October.
She was a driving force and the primary donor behind a Super Bowl ad produced by a pro-Kennedy super PAC, American Values 2024, for which she contributed $4 million. In response to criticism following the ad’s release, the super PAC said its “idea, funding, and execution came primarily” from Shanahan.
The super PAC can accept unlimited funds but is legally barred from coordinating with Kennedy’s team.
But as a candidate for vice president, Shanahan can give unlimited sums to the campaign directly. That’s potentially a huge boost for Kennedy’s expensive push to get on the ballot in all 50 states, an endeavor he has said will cost $15 million and require collecting more than 1 million signatures.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
