Eon Huntley, a 41-year-old Bedford-Stuyvesant resident and Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed candidate for the New York State Assembly, is balancing a campaign for public office with his full-time job in luxury retail, according to The New York Times.
Huntley works as a sales associate at Bergdorf Goodman, where he specializes in The Row, the luxury fashion brand founded by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. He has worked at the department store for six years, helping customers shop for high-end clothing, including cashmere sweaters and T-shirts costing hundreds or thousands of dollars.
At the same time, Huntley is campaigning for Assembly District 56, which includes Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. He lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant with his wife, Rebecca, a teacher, and their two daughters. He has been campaigning in the neighborhood where he has built his home and community ties.
“When people talk about housing that’s accessible and affordable — truly affordable, not like what we have right now but built for people to grow in — that’s also like thinking about the kind of clothes that I appreciate,” said Huntley, 41.
The combination of luxury retail and democratic socialism gives Huntley’s campaign an unusual profile in Brooklyn, where rising housing costs, affordability and economic inequality remain significant concerns.
Huntley's background also includes work as a union organizer and Parent-Teacher Association president, as well as community organizing during the COVID-19 pandemic. His career in fashion and retail also places him at the center of a broader conversation about how people involved in left-wing politics navigate consumer culture and wealth. For Huntley, those worlds coexist with his identity as a working retail employee, community organizer and parent.
As the campaign continues, Huntley is seeking support from voters in Brooklyn’s 56th Assembly District while maintaining his work at Bergdorf Goodman. His candidacy offers a different picture of political participation, bringing together fashion, retail work, family life and neighborhood organizing in one Brooklyn campaign.
