Independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr.’s running mate has increased the duo’s war chest once more, donating $8 million to the campaign to improve ballot access in the run-up to November.
Attorney Nicole Shanahan, whom Kennedy chose as his vice president in March, donated another $8 million last month to help the campaign get on the ballot in all 50 states.
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On Wednesday night, the Silicon Valley attorney disclosed the donation during a comedy event in Tennessee.
“This isn’t just about funding our own campaign,” she said in a statement after the Tennessee fundraiser, which took place at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. “We want to liberate presidential elections from the grip of the existing two-party duopoly and revitalize American democracy.”
Shanahan, who has been gradually increasing her campaigning, contributed $2 million to the campaign just one day after Kennedy appointed her in late March. Under current federal election legislation, candidates may contribute an unlimited amount to their campaign coffers and are not subject to the $6,600 individual cap.
Documents from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show that she previously gave directly to Kennedy’s presidential campaign and also contributed $4 million to the Super Bowl ad that American Values 2024, an outside organization supporting the independent candidate, released.
Kennedy’s independent campaign plans to be on the ballot in all 50 states by Election Day, and it expects to have its candidate debate President Biden and former President Trump.
Kennedy expressed dissatisfaction over his exclusion from this week’s debate, asserting that this development “undermines democracy.”
His campaign claims that he has collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot in 14 states so far.
“The expense of ballot access—in both time and treasure—is one of the establishment’s most powerful cudgels against independent political thought,” campaign manager Amaryllis Kennedy said in a statement. “Americans seek and deserve an alternative to the dysfunctional status quo. We are happy to put these funds to work, crossing the finish line in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”
