Octogenarian walking across America for democracy stopping in Madison, Milwaukee

Despite snowstorms, a severe bout of COVID-19 and the death of his long-time partner, Rick Hubbard has continued his walk across the country to “fix democracy.”

On Saturday, Hubbard will take his message to Madison. He’ll be in Milwaukee Aug. 29, joining like-minded organizations in both cities. 

Hubbard, 82, doesn’t support particular candidates, rather groups and ideas that he believes will move the country’s political system to be more inclusive, more competitive and more representative, he said. 

“No one person can fix this alone — no one organization can. It’s way too big,” Hubbard said. “But if we each put our shoulder to the wheel and push a little bit, hopefully we can nudge it in the right direction.” 

Final Five Voting will be topic at Madison rally

Hubbard will join Voters First Wisconsin at the Capitol Saturday during a rally to promote the group’s efforts to bring Final Five Voting to the state. 

The process allows the top five vote-getters of any party in a Congressional primary to continue to the general election. During the general election, Wisconsin voters would go through the ranking process with those five candidates.

During the last two legislative sessions bipartisan bills have been drafted to create Final Five Voting, but the bills have not made it out of committee. 

Bob Betzig, a board member of Voters First Wisconsin, said the group was contacted by Hubbard and were thrilled to plan an event around his stop in Wisconsin. 

They plan to have a march down Mifflin Street at 10 a.m. and then feature Hubbard as their main speaker. Betzig is hoping the state Legislature will introduce another Final Five voting bill in the next session.

“We want to be able to take advantage of the thousands of people that will be in the square for the farmer’s market; it’s just a crowd waiting to be invited into our conversation,” Betzig said. “We feel like the time is ready to bring it to a broader audience, that’s why we’re doing this. The time is ideal for us.” 

Hubbard has been on a mission for decades

Hubbard is a retired attorney from Burlington, Vermont. In 1989, he joined “Granny-D” for a week as she walked across Kentucky. The  89-year-old woman was walking across the country for campaign finance reform.

That experience inspired Hubbard, then 58, to walk 450 miles around Vermont to advocate for the same issues. From there, the walks for advocacy continued. 

On Oct. 1, 2022, Hubbard set off on the longest walk of his life — a trek from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. to fix democracy. 

Three months into his walk, Sally, his partner of 31 years, called with terrible news. Her breast cancer had returned. Hubbard went home to Vermont to care for her until her death five months later. 

He began walking again in August 2023. 

Snow in Colorado set him back. And a recent battle with Covid after a rally in Des Moines was nearly fatal. 

“I’m finishing up the sickest I’ve been in 50 years,” Hubbard said Friday. “But I’ve been fine for the last week, and I’ve been putting in miles.”

Hubbard has to walk 10 miles a day, five days a week to get him to D.C. by January. He wants to be at the Capitol when the next president is inaugurated. 

This week he has walked 60 miles. 

“I’m in pretty good shape for an old guy,” he said. 

Hubbard said without Sally in his life, he’s not sure what he’ll do when the walk is finished. But right now, he is hoping to make small changes. 

“I’m not trying to overstate what one person can do,” he said. “It’s just what each of us can do in our own way. We’ve got to find a way if we want to push towards making our nation’s government work properly on behalf of all of us.”