Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s former presidential running mate Nicole Shanahan called out various senators by name, warning that she will fund primary challenges against them if they oppose confirming Kennedy to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services.
‘Dear U.S. Senators, Bobby may play nice; I won’t,’ she wrote in a post on X.
In a video, Shanahan said that in 2020 she ‘cut large checks to Chuck Schumer to help Democrats flip two Senate seats in Georgia from red to blue.’ Peach State Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff both initially took office after winning runoff contests in early 2021.
Shanahan bluntly warned the two senators, ‘Please know I will be watching your votes very closely. I will make it my personal mission that you lose your seats in the Senate if you vote against the future health of America’s children.’
She then proceeded to call out Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; James Lankford, R-Okla.; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.
‘While Bobby may be willing to play nice, I won’t. 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,’ she declared.
Shanahan, who urged people to reach out to their senators to press them to support Kennedy’s nomination, followed up her video with a post tagging each of the 13 senators she had mentioned — the post also included phone numbers.
Kennedy, a Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate, ultimately dropped out and backed Donald Trump in the 2024 White House contest.
Trump later announced Kennedy as his pick to serve as HHS secretary.
But the HHS nominee still needs to earn enough support in the Senate to clear the confirmation hurdle.
Shanahan voted for Trump during the 2024 presidential election.