2024 Candidate Profile: Jonathan Huskey runs for Council

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2024 Candidate Profile:  Jonathan Huskey runs for Council
Jonathan Huskey. (Courtesy photo)
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By James Matheson | jmatheson@alextimes.com

Jonathan Huskey entered the Alexandria City Council race as the anti-arena candidate the same day it was announced the proposed Monumental Sports & Entertainment plan fell through. And as a first-time candidate, Huskey seeks to use his policy and financial expertise to improve the tax base while engaging directly with constituents.

“I work on revenue, I work on taxes; I know how hard it is. I understand budgets and how to make decisions about what we prioritize,” Huskey said. “While I haven’t been on every board or understand the ins and outs of all the departments, I am a policy professional and revenue is my game.”

Huskey, a communications director for a state-based policy organization, does have some previous experience around politics despite never holding elected office. This knowledge is particularly shown through his political science degree from the University of Kansas and work with successful campaigns.

After Huskey graduated from Kansas in 1999, he worked briefly for a crisis housing center in Dallas; the young professional then shipped to Colorado, where he joined the 2001 state senate campaign of then-state House Rep. Ken Gordon, a Democrat.

Gordon influenced the way Huskey treats politics in Alexandria, especially the financial side. Gordon, who died in 2013, spearheaded efforts to remove big money from politics and grant equal power to all voices in the political process, not just those with the biggest purse. Huskey said he aims to do the same.

Huskey plans to continue to canvass neighborhoods even if elected. Other politicians like Hal Malchow, Paul Wellstone and Barack Obama have impacted how he plans to operate as a politician – be it in his campaign, community engagement or navigating his role in politics as a white male, a demographic Huskey said is far overrepresented in the field.

“I’m now very much influenced by the need for white guys – people who look like me – to step away from the limelight and even the decision making,” Huskey said. “I’m very aware that I’m another white dude.”

Not everyone has the opportunity or flexibility to run for elected office. So, Huskey is focusing his advocacy on people who don’t have that privilege: individuals living in neighborhoods affected by policy, but simultaneously neglected in the implementation of that policy.

Huskey moved to the DMV region searching for a job and place to live in 2001. He lived primarily in Arlington – with some short time spent in Washington, D.C. – before ultimately settling in Alexandria with his family in 2012.

The father of two sons, Sawyer and James, and husband to Mandy, Huskey is involved in his local civic association while also participating in the “dad stuff,” like coaching his childrens’ sports teams. The Huskeys are also proud owners of a brown pitbull named Butter.

After a childhood filled with frequent moving due to his father’s job, Huskey calls Salina, Kan., his hometown. He now wants to continue making Alexandria the place where he and his Warwick Village neighbors are proud to call home.

“We’ve enjoyed [Warwick Village], grown into the community, love the people around there and love the lifestyle,” Huskey said. “[Alexandria] has a lot to offer families and residents, so that’s why we moved here.”

Huskey has watched politics in Alexandria transpire with a watchful eye over the years. He said he has voted for Mayor Justin Wilson in every election in which he appeared on the ballot; that being said, Huskey believes the mayor made a crucial error in error in his approval of the arena deal. Huskey said he disliked the idea from the start and even bused to Richmond to lobby against it.

Huskey didn’t want to get involved in politics, but ultimately felt compelled.

“The main reason I’m a late entry … is that I was looking to find other folks who were able to take on the establishment here and say, ‘No, we really don’t want this arena,’” Huskey said.

This thought process has motivated him to check his privilege.

“You have to recognize that your issues are not their issues, necessarily,” Huskey said. “Everybody’s perspective is colored by their experience. You do not win people over by shouting.”

Huskey’s approach to raising Alexandria’s tax base involves a careful consideration of all parties. He’s in favor of bringing large companies with the ability to change the trajectory of the tax base to Alexandria. He just wants to protect workers, their families, overall wealth and small business in the process.

While other candidates are focused on potential financial catalysts to bring to the city, Huskey said he’ll be the candidate asking questions from the side. He said the ultimate solution to the revenue problem in the city is progressive taxation.

The reason Huskey believes he’s different from the other candidates – and those currently on Council – is his overall plan to address taxation. He said contrary to popular belief, the issue is not a binary choice between cutting services and raising taxes.

He believes candidates and Council are right in this analysis, but they haven’t taken enough action or completed enough advocacy to fix the pressing need for an enlarged revenue stream in the long term. Huskey said property taxes are an “inequitable and terrible way to fund the schools.”

“I’m in this race because I think there’s larger, broader issues of justice at play here that are long-term solutions to the revenue problem,” Huskey said. “I have no idea why people don’t want to talk about it in the city.”

Huskey continued to say there is no way to fundamentally alter the perpetual cycle of raising and lowering taxes without changing the way the Commonwealth does taxes.

Outside of his politics and revenue experience, Huskey has a plan for quickly gaining the knowledge he doesn’t yet have. He said he’s educating himself by calling and meeting with chairs of organizations and civic associations to better understand the issues they prioritize.

Meanwhile, Huskey is prioritizing transparency and engagement in his campaign. He plans to once again take a lesson from the community engagement process for the Potomac Yard arena plans. He said the process was both intense yet passive at the same time.

Huskey believes continuing to canvass and let residents get to know him will continue to build on an already healthy civic and community engagement.

“I like talking to people at their doors. If there’s a particular issue in a location, I’m going to go to them,” Huskey said. “I’m not just going to seek out people who will come to me. It’s important to go and find people who may have a much more nuanced way of thinking about an issue.”

Huskey’s long term plans for Alexandria are for residents to be able to afford to live here, continue to enjoy the city and continue to chip away at systems perpetuated by racial segregation and oppression.

“People just need to be making more money,” Huskey said. “In the end, what I’d like to see is a better balance between major corporate interests and workers, their lives [and] their long term in the way Council approaches economic development and other programs.”

Huskey continued to say one of the greatest accomplishments of this Council was the Alexandria Recurring Income for Success and Equity – or ARISE Guaranteed Income Pilot. He said he wants to continue to build on the program.

“This is going to be a tough race. I’m not going to make everything so serious that people can’t see the fun in what I’m doing,” Huskey said. “Who wants a dour, finger wagging campaign? Nobody wants that. I don’t want to run that race.”

Alexandria is a city Huskey is proud of. He plans to carry out his campaign in a manner that he’ll be proud of. The “anti-arena candidate” doesn’t want the weight of the Potomac Yard division to continue to separate communities.

“I’m going to try and be light, because there’s a crisis a-comin’ in terms of our fiscal situation, Huskey said. “There are communities that are hurting that have nothing to do with the arena. We need to be very clear about that.”

 

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