- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings to be HHS Secretary begin on Wednesday.
- His ex-running mate says she’ll fund primary challengers against senators who vote against him.
- Nicole Shanahan, a billionaire Silicon Valley lawyer, previously helped bankroll RFK Jr.’s campaign.
Nicole Shanahan is threatening to “personally fund” primary challenges against senators who vote against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be the secretary of health and human services.
“This is a bipartisan message, and it comes directly from me,” Shanahan said in a video on X on Monday. “While Bobby may be willing to play nice, I won’t.”
Shanahan, a Silicon Valley lawyer worth more than a billion dollars, previously served as Kennedy’s running mate — and helped fund his campaign to the tune of nearly $19 million.
Kennedy ended his independent presidential bid in August to endorse Donald Trump. In November, Trump nominated Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. His first confirmation hearing is set to take place on Wednesday morning.
“If you vote against him, I will personally fund challengers to primary you in your next election, and I will enlist hundreds of thousands to join me,” Shanahan said.
Shanahan listed 13 senators in both parties whose votes she was watching, including:
- Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia
- Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia
- Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
- Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
- Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
- Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
- Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
- Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina
- Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma
- Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey
- Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania
- Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont
- Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada
Some of the Republicans that Shanahan named are seen as less firmly supportive of Kennedy, while many of the Democrats she named have been the subject of speculation that they could be won over.
Sanders, for instance, previously offered measured praised for Kennedy’s ideas about processed foods and “Making America Healthy Again” in an interview with BI.
“When Kennedy talks about an unhealthy society, he’s right,” Sanders said at the time. “The amount of chronic illness that we have is just extraordinary.”
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