Senators voting on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as health secretary on Wednesday have been put on notice.
Nicole Shanahan, a Silicon Valley lawyer who ran as RFK Jr.’s vice presidential running mate last year, said she would do everything in her power to ruin the careers of any senators who vote against his nomination for Health and Human Services secretary.
She even name-dropped multiple senators—both Democrats and Republicans—in a brief video message posted on X Tuesday evening.
Shanahan said she quietly “cut large checks” to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in the last election to boost the campaigns of Georgia Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
“Please know I will be watching your votes very closely,” she told the lawmakers. “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.”
Shanahan, founder and CEO of the patent management firm ClearAccessIP, was reportedly made a billionaire by her divorce settlement from Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
The couple split in 2021 after three years together and got divorced in 2023 after Shanahan, 39, allegedly had an affair with tech mogul Elon Musk. Both of them have denied the rumors.
Shanahan also called out Sens. Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Thom Tillis, James Lankford, Cory Booker, John Fetterman, Bernie Sanders, and Catherine Cortez Masto in her video.
“This is a bipartisan message, and it comes directly from me,” she said. “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.”
Shanahan also urged her supporters to call their senators and demand they vote to confirm RFK Jr., who also goes by Bobby.
RFK Jr., a vaccine skeptic who has pushed several questionable public health policies, will face the Senate for his confirmation hearing as Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Caroline Kennedy, the only living child of John F. Kennedy, earlier described her cousin RFK Jr. as a “predator” and urged the Senate not to confirm his nomination.