PROVIDENCE — With one major-party convention dominating the headlines this week and another set to take place next week, it’s easy to forget that there are choices beyond the Republican and Democratic candidates.

Dr. Jill Stein, the presumptive Green Party presidential nominee, was in Rhode Island on Wednesday to remind local voters — especially those that backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in his failed bid for the Democratic nomination — that there is still someone in the race that stands for their issues.

“The American public is clamoring for something different,” she told The Journal.

Stein was in Providence to lead a protest against the proposed construction of a liquefied natural gas facility on the Fields Point waterfront, telling about 60 supporters that the nation must move immediately away from fossil fuels and urging the adoption of a “Green New Deal” to create jobs in renewable energy.

She came to Rhode Island after rallies in New Hampshire and Vermont and was set to speak in Connecticut on Thursday before headlining a series of events in Philadelphia to coincide with the Democratic National Convention, which starts on Monday. The past couple months have been nonstop travel for Stein after she ramped up her speaking schedule when it became clear that Sanders, the flag-bearer of the progressive left, would be unable to secure the Democratic nomination.

Her platform focuses on many of the same issues that Sanders pushed, including ending student debt, creating a living wage and aggressively addressing climate change. Disaffected supporters of Sanders have been flocking to her campaign in recent weeks, Stein said in an interview before the rally.

“They had such an inspired campaign,” she said. “Now they have a way to keep that going.”

An NBC poll released this week had her winning 5 percent of the vote in a matchup against Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Libertarian Gary Johnson. In Rhode Island, interest in Stein’s candidacy has spiked, according to Greg Gerritt, of the Green Party of Rhode Island. Fifty to 60 people have signed up to volunteer for Stein’s campaign over the past several weeks, bringing the total number of volunteers in the state up to about 160, he said.

Stein, a 66-year-old Massachusetts physician, first drew notice in 1998 when she helped lead protests against the so-called “Filthy Five,” the biggest coal-burning power plants in Massachusetts. She ran unsuccessful campaigns for governor and state representative in Massachusetts and then became the Green Party’s presidential candidate in the 2012 elections, winning less than 1 percent of the total. This election will be different, she said, and she expects to outdo Ralph Nader, the 2000 Green Party candidate who captured 3 percent of the vote.

But it’s clear that she’s running a barebones campaign. Stein sat without any staff for the interview with The Journal, which was hosted at Gerritt’s house. A print-out on the front door drew reference to Trump and Clinton, who are both deeply unpopular with segments of the population, reading, “Fight for the greater good. Reject the lesser evil.”

She talked at length about shifting to wind, solar and other renewable sources of energy. And she not only criticized National Grid’s plan for the LNG facility in Providence but also objected to a proposal for a natural gas-burning power plant in Burrillville, saying that because of leaks during extraction and transport, natural gas may actually be more damaging to the environment than coal.

At the rally that was organized by the FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas) Collective and the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island, Stein delivered a 15-minute speech that touched on those and other issues.

Julian Rodriguez-Drix, 32, a member of the Environmental Justice League board who was in attendance, expressed reservations about national politics but said he would likely vote for Stein in the November election.

“She’s unafraid to critique the power structure,” he said.

In the interview, Stein said that she is counting on the backing of young voters like Rodriguez-Drix that previously came out for Sanders.

“We have the potential to ride the wave of a voter revolt right now,” she said. “We could ride that wave all the way to the White House.”

akuffner@providencejournal.com

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