Jill Stein

Jill Ellen Stein (born May 14, 1950) is an American physician, activist, and political candidate.

In 1973, Stein graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where she studied psychology, sociology, and anthropology.

She then attended Harvard Medical School and graduated in 1979.

Stein then practiced internal medicine for 25 years at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Simmons College Health Center, and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, which are all located in the Boston area.

She also served as an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

As a physician, Stein became increasingly concerned about the connection between people's health and the quality of their local environment.

She subsequently turned to activism.

In 1998, she began protesting the "Filthy Five" coal plants in Massachusetts.

Since 1998, she has served on the board of the Greater Boston chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

She received Clean Water Action's "Not in Anyone's Backyard Award" in 1998 and its "Children's Health Hero Award" in 2000, Toxic Action Center's "Citizen Award" in 1999, and Salem State College's "Friend of the Earth Award" in 2004.

Stein coauthored two reports by the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, In Harm's Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development (2000), and Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging (2009).

In Harm's Way report republished in the peer-reviewed Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics in 2002.

Stein has said that she left the Democratic Party and joined the Green Party when "the Democratic Party killed campaign finance reform in my state".

Stein began her political career by running as the Green-Rainbow Party candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 2002.

Her running mate was Tony Lorenzen, a high school theology teacher.

She finished third in a field of five candidates, with 76,530 votes (3.5%), far behind the winner, Republican Mitt Romney.

In 2004, Stein ran for state representative for the 9th Middlesex District, which included portions of Waltham and Lexington.

She received 3,911 votes (21.3%) in a three-way race, ahead of the Republican candidate but far behind Democratic incumbent Thomas M. Stanley.

In 2005, Stein set her sights locally, running for the Lexington Town Meeting, a representative town meeting, the local legislative body in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Stein was elected to one of seven seats in Precinct 2.

She finished first of 16 candidates, receiving 539 votes (20.6%).

At the Green-Rainbow Party state convention on March 4, 2006, Stein was nominated for Secretary of the Commonwealth.

In a two-way race with the three-term incumbent, Democrat Bill Galvin, she received 353,551 votes (17.7%).

Stein was reelected in 2008, finishing second of 13 vying for eight seats.

Stein resigned during her second term to again run for governor.

On February 8, 2010, Stein announced her second candidacy for governor.

Her running mate was Richard P. Purcell, a surgery clerk and ergonomics assessor.

In the November 2 general election, Stein finished fourth, receiving 32,895 votes (1.4%), again far behind the incumbent, Democrat Deval Patrick.

In August 2011, Stein indicated that she was considering running for President of the United States with the Green Party in the 2012 general election.

In a published questionnaire she said that a number of Green activists had asked her to run and called the U.S. debt-ceiling crisis "the President's astounding attack on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—a betrayal of the public interest."

Stein launched her campaign in October 2011.

In December 2011, Ben Manski, a Wisconsin Green Party leader, was announced as Stein's campaign manager.

She was the Green Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2012 and 2016 elections and the Green-Rainbow Party's candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 and 2010.

Her campaigns for president have focused heavily on the proposal of a Green New Deal, which includes a number of reforms to address climate change and income inequality, as well as civil and political rights reform.

In 2012, Stein received 469,015 votes, which accounted for .36% of the popular vote; in 2016, she received 1.45 million votes or 1.07% of the popular vote.

In 2023, it was announced that Stein would help run Cornel West's 2024 Green Party campaign for president.

After West withdrew from the Green Party to continue his campaign as an independent, Stein launched her campaign for the Green Party's 2024 presidential nomination.

Stein was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Gladys (née Wool) and Joseph Stein.

She was raised in Highland Park, Illinois.

Her parents were descended from Russian Jews, and Stein was raised in a Reform Jewish household, attending Chicago's North Shore Congregation Israel.