A few weeks ago, I was delighted to cast a vote in the primary election for Eon Huntley for Assembly District 56. He campaigned alongside State Senator Jabari Brisport for “universal child care, rent controls, and a Brooklyn every family can afford,” and his win was one of a sweeping wave of DSA victories. He now advances to the general election, running unopposed, and will officially take office in January. He’s also been newly anointed by the Times as one of the “39-ish” most stylish people of the year. We video-chatted about how he’s going to miss some aspects of working at Bergdorf’s, specifically The Row on the women’s floor, and how we’re both worried about affording Bed–Stuy.
What are you doing between now and January?
I still have to pay my bills! It's still very surreal because I am at my job. Summer is traditionally a slow time for retail but I’m working the same schedule. I’m ready for fall with the new deliveries.
How has working retail prepared you for being in the New York State Assembly?
I’m a friendly person, and that’s a part of being a salesperson. I was a designer for ten years before switching into sales, but I was always really good at communicating with my team. It's a skill that is very much transferable to this next role.
New York State assemblymembers make $142,000 a year, with outside income capped at $33,000. Will you be taking a pay cut when you take office?
It really depends on the year. I would say that my income will be comparable. The difference is that, in retail, the real income is generated by commission. That requires you grinding every single day in order to achieve sales goals. It’s not about just people walking in. It really is about client engagement and development and building relationships, and that takes a lot of effort. I've honestly never worked harder in my life, especially compared to when I was a designer just sitting in my office all day.
What’s your average day like?
I start early in the morning with my family and then I stand up all day. My wife is a public-school teacher and my kids go to school, so first we walk the dog and get the lunchbox and coffee ready and then I go to work from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Then I come home and do it all again. There’s also organizing in between all of that.
When do you sleep?
I’ll sleep when I’m dead. What I ran on, and what I represent, is the reality of my life. It’s not something that I'm doing because it sounds good, it's because I really understand the struggles of being a working-class person. And yes, you can make a good living doing a job like being a salesperson, but it comes with a cost. I don't really have weekends off. Those are the demands of capitalism; it requires that we do what it takes in order to survive. Not even to thrive, to survive.
My husband and I both have good jobs but don’t get financial help from our families, and we worry a lot about our rent going up and forcing us out of this neighborhood. What will you do to make the district more affordable?
I share those same fears, and it's something that I talked about throughout the campaign. We should be building more truly affordable housing, green social housing that's accessible, the kind of place where you can grow old. I know it’s possible because I grew up in that kind of development in East New York. I've lived in Bed–Stuy for over 17 years now, and this is the only place that my daughters have ever called home. I hope that we can get the rent stabilization going and also address the other kind of affordability issues that are not just around housing, but around child care. Our children are older now, but I still remember what it was like to have to make a choice between paying for rent and paying for day care.
What’s the plan for how to pay for this stuff?
We need to tax the rich in order to provide the things that New Yorkers across this state and especially in this district and community need to live the good life that they deserve. That’s the message that this campaign ran on.
