"I'm running because we are in a crisis," she said on the phone Friday from Seattle. "People are losing their jobs, decent wages, their homes by the millions, affordable health care and higher education."

Stein is on the ballot in 32 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and expects to be on at least 45 by Nov. 6.

She and her running mate, Cheri Honkala, support an economic program they call the Green New Deal.

It calls for the nationally funded creation of 25 million jobs, establishment of a federal bank to take over homes with distressed mortgages, prioritizing environmental research, ending bailouts, restoring the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act and creating new electoral rules that help third-party candidates.

"The only way forward is with the politics of courage," she said, "standing up for the real solutions that are within our reach if we stand up and demand them."