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Presumptive Green Party Presidential Nominee Makes Stop in Fairfield County

STAMFORD, Conn. — Dr. Jill Stein has another name for those who are members of the Green Party.

Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein speaks to an audience at the Stamford Innovation Center Thursday.

Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein speaks to an audience at the Stamford Innovation Center Thursday.

Photo Credit: Jay Polansky

“You could also call us former Democrats,” said Stein, the presumptive Green Party presidential nominee. “Welcome to the club.”

Stein spoke to a crowd of about 100, who gathered at the Stamford Innovation Center on Thursday evening. The stop in Stamford followed a petition rally in New London earlier in the day.

During her remarks, Stein said the time is ripe for a presidential candidate who is not a Democrat or a Republican. She said the American people are dissatisfied the choices provided by the two parties this year.

“They do not want, and they do not like the current establishment nominees,” Stein said on the evening that Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination. “The public is clamoring for what we got.”

Stein, who spoke to an audience that included attendees wearing Bernie Sanders T-shirts and pins, made a direct appeal to the supporters of the Vermont senator who came in behind Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination.

The Sanders campaign started a grassroots movement that picked up steam, Stein said. Her campaign could build on that momentum. “We can go forward from here in an incredible, exciting way,” she said.

Stein said she would cancel student loan debt and move the country to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. She also called for healthy localized food, energy-efficient public transportation and a “Green New Deal.”

Stein’s message resonated with Nina Sherwood, an ardent Sanders supporter. She said Sanders and Stein have similar platforms.

Sherwood said she would vote for Stein “unless Hillary Clinton decides to move to the left and stands for something instead of 'don't vote for me because I'm not that guy.''”

Another attendee, Makayla Kraynak, made the two-hour trip from Hartford to see Stein. Kraynak said was not a member of the Green Party — “I’m not supportive of parties. I’m supportive of a progressive movement.”

But she supports Stein. “She is the female Bernie,” Kraynak said.

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