9 things to know about Jill Stein

Introduction

Abolishing student debt. Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Guaranteeing a right to health care.

Sound familiar? Those issues — which wouldn’t be out of place in a Bernie Sanders stump speech — are also among the top priorities of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who won her party’s nomination today in Houston.

And during an election season in which many voters and donors unexpectedly flocked to Sanders, Stein is hoping to harness some of that energy for her longshot presidential bid now that Sanders has conceded and endorsed former Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton.

Stein — a medical doctor and activist from Massachusetts — was also the Green Party’s presidential nominee four years ago. Then, she earned about 0.36 percent of the vote nationally and appeared on the ballot in 36 states and the District of Columbia. She only garnered more than 1 percent of the vote in two states: Maine and Oregon.

But that hasn’t deterred Stein from calling for a “Green New Deal” and a “truly representative democracy,” which would include “open debates” as well as ranked-choice voting and public financing of campaigns.

During her 2012 campaign, Stein raised about $1.3 million, including $64,000 of her own money and about $370,000 in public funding.

Stein is again expected to receive some public financing for her 2016 presidential bid, as is Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson. The better-funded campaigns of Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump are raising their funds strictly from private sources.

Here are nine other things to know about the Green Party’s presidential standard-bearer.

• Who is Jill Stein? She’s a doctor, activist and Green Party presidential candidate from Massachusetts. 
• 2016 is not Jill Stein’s first election. She was also the Green Party’s presidential nominee in 2012. And she’s run for office in Massachusetts. Her biggest electoral success? Town meeting representative in the town of Lexington. 
• Nearly 50 percent of the $860,000 Jill Stein has raised so far for her 2016 presidential bid has come from small-dollar donors giving $200 or less. 
• Federal disclosures show that Jill Stein and her husband, Richard Rohrer, are together worth at least $3.9 million. 
• Among the stock holdings of Jill Stein and her husband: at least $100,000 worth of Disney, at least $100,000 worth of Home Depot and at least $50,000 worth of Merck. 
• Jill Stein has invested about $170,000 of her own money into her Green Party campaigns over the years — including $40,000 for her 2016 presidential bid. 
• Jill Stein raised about $1.3 million for her 2012 Green Party presidential bid — including about $370,000 in public funding. 
• Jill Stein earned 0.36 percent of the presidential vote in 2012. She did best in Maine and Oregon — where she got 1.1 percent. 
• Jill Stein twice ran for office against Republican Mitt Romney — for president in 2012 and for governor in 2002. 

Sources: Center for Public Integrity reporting as well as Jill2016.com, Wikipedia and filings with the Federal Election Commission and Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.