It’s one thing to write a letter to your Congressperson, but quite another to walk across the country for campaign finance reform at the age of 89. Doris ‘Granny D’ Haddock’s 3,200-mile walk took over a year and two birthdays on the road to complete. She gave speeches along the way urging single women and African Americans to exercise their right to vote.
Haddock later ran for U.S. Senate at the tender age of 94 against incumbent Judd Gregg and captured 34 percent of the votes. She walked a local paper route every morning to raise awareness for her campaign and set a precedent for honest campaign financing, taking only legal individual contributions.
Haddock passed away on Tuesday at age 100 in Dublin, New Hampshire. She would likely have been very critical of the recent Supreme Court decision to reject all caps on corporate political contributions. But she might have been heartened by the House’s decision yesterday to block earmarks to private corporations. Granny D transcended ageism and sexism to stand up against corporate politics. She will be greatly missed.
Watch Granny D speak about campaign finance reform:
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