When Rick Hubbard started his cross-country journey walking with an American flag on his back he had one goal in mind: fix the current state of democracy.

It was the fall of 2022, and the 82-year-old Vermont resident set off for Los Angeles. By the end of 2023, he planned to end his walk in Washington D.C.

But as life would have it, his longtime partner passed away last summer from cancer – bringing his walk to a screeching halt for seven months.

Now, he’s picked back up, trying to follow in the footsteps of campaign finance crusader, Granny D Haddock. He’s got a personal purpose behind his steps as well.

“I figured well, I don’t know what life’s gonna be like for Rick at 82 without a partner and what all that means,” he said. “So why don’t I in the meantime, focus on something a little bigger and more important.”

Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, Hubbard took a break from his cross-country venture to narrow in on candidates. His “Walking to Fix Democracy” RV soon became a fixture in event parking lots as he attended town halls and rallies with the hopes of bringing attention to the need to improve representative democracy.

“It’s nonpartisan, totally,” he said of his quest. “Just make the system work better, promote fairness, so that whomever we elect will be able to ideally focus more on doing a better job instead of just representing a little further one side or the other.”

If Hubbard’s mission sounds familiar to Granny D’s quest, that’s because it is. In 1999, he joined Granny D for a week in Kentucky as she traversed the country on a 15-month walk to draw attention to campaign finance reform.

He has also walked with Lawrence Lessig in New Hampshire ahead of the 2016 presidential primary, asking candidates how they would curb big money in politics.

Supporting democracy has been at the crux of Hubbard’s career. In the 1970s he helped organize the Vermont chapter of Common Cause, a pro-democracy organization that focuses on voting rights, gerrymandering, campaign finance and other political reforms.

In August, Hubbard restarted his walk, driving out West again. He made it to Fort Collins, Colorado, before winter in the Great Plains gave him pause.

Now, he plans to resume walking in April, with hopes of arriving in Washington D.C. for the presidential inauguration in January of 2025.

In the interim, the pause gave Hubbard a chance to turn his attention to the presidential primaries.

Outside a Nikki Haley campaign event in Franklin, Hubbard parked his RV in the lot of the VFW Post and revealed his “Walking to Fix Democracy” shirt under a blue blazer.

He wanted to ask the former ambassador about big business and capitalism, but he and Haley didn’t cross paths.

“When we elect representatives, they go to Washington and take an oath to uphold the Constitution, the preamble to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, promote our general welfare. Doesn’t that mean that it’s their job to if we’re going to support capitalism to balance it, so it works broadly for all Americans?” he said.

The nature of the New Hampshire primary underscores the need for voting reform, Hubbard said. Even though it’s one of the first voting contests, the general election contest – a rematch between Trump and Biden – already feels inevitable.

Besides, while New Hampshire voters might lend their ear to independent candidates campaigning in the state, those candidates are often pushed out of the national picture, ensuring the power of the two-party system, he said.

“What’s fair about that?” he said.

That’s the heart of his mission – to advocate for political reform so that these elections become not only more competitive but representative for voters.

Hubbard’s next destination is South Carolina, where he intends to follow the primaries for the month of February – with Democrats heading to the polls on the 3rd and Republicans following on the 24th.

“I get a southern vacation,” he joked.