Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential marketing campaign raised simply $2.6 million in Might, a paltry sum that speaks to how reliant his bid has develop into on his operating mate, the rich Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan.
The Kennedy marketing campaign raised much less in Might than it had in any earlier month in 2024, in keeping with filings on Wednesday with the Federal Election Fee. That was largely as a result of Ms. Shanahan, who has poured tens of millions into their unbiased presidential marketing campaign, barely contributed any extra cash in Might.
The entire raised by Mr. Kennedy was primarily the identical as what he raised in April, not counting Ms. Shanahan: He introduced in $10.7 million that month, however $8 million got here from her. Earlier, when he introduced her as his operating mate in March, she virtually instantly threw $2 million behind the marketing campaign.
Mr. Kennedy ended Might with $6.4 million readily available. And but that determine is just considerably revealing about his monetary place due to the looming risk that Ms. Shanahan, at a second’s discover, may inject extra money into their bid. She has been ready to take action straight as a result of whereas marketing campaign finance legal guidelines bar individuals from donating greater than $3,300 to a marketing campaign, candidates themselves may give limitless sums of their very own cash.
And Ms. Shanahan, a philanthropist who was as soon as married to the Google co-founder Sergey Brin, is claimed to have entry to over $1 billion. She has not signaled if there’s a restrict to how a lot she may spend.
Mr. Kennedy and his allies have some distinctive prices related to their marketing campaign — primarily ballot-access work that may be costly.
His marketing campaign spent about $6.3 million in Might, however virtually half of that was routed via a restricted legal responsibility firm that focuses on poll entry. The cash laid out was labeled “marketing campaign consulting,” making his exact expenditures considerably opaque.
