Nicole Shanahan Tells Newsweek Why She's Running With RFK Jr.

Nicole Shanahan, a patent attorney specializing in technology and the former wife of Google founder Sergey Brin, has been named Robert F. Kennedy Jr's. vice presidential running mate.

"I want somebody who will look out for young people and not treat them as if they're invisible," Kennedy said in an interview with Newsweek. "She's just 38 years old; she comes from technology and understands social media."

Kennedy made the announcement Tuesday at an event in Oakland, where Shanahan grew up in poverty with her mother, who emigrated from China, and her father, who had a substance abuse problem and suffered from mental disorders.

Shanahan, a lifelong Democrat, told Newsweek she has grown disillusioned with the party over what she sees as a lack of progress on environmental issues and children's health, and because it has helped to rack up a $34 trillion national debt and has no strategy to secure the southern border.