Page 136 of See You Next Tuesday

Katz for Library Board—Brooklyn, New York

Meet the Storied Political Operative Running for Library Board

by Emma Cabrera, Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Anya Katz is no stranger to the world of political campaigns—she’s worked on some of the most influential races of the past two decades. So with two young daughters and a booming career, why did Katz decide to jump into the fray this year as a first-time candidate? We caught up with her at her local library (where else!) to find out.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle: To start with the obvious, can you tell us why you’re running for library board?

Anya Katz: I’ve always been a big reader. I think especially for kids, but for adults too, reading helps develop your empathy and shows you all these possibilities for your life you might have never considered—and for so many New Yorkers, that starts at the library. So in thinking about the next chapter of my life and how I might serve my community, running for library board felt really natural, almost obvious. When I first brought up the idea to my husband, he said he couldn’t believe I wasn’t on the board already.

BDE: I presume your daughters are excited too?

AK: Oh yeah, but they’re excited about literally everything, so take it with a grain of salt. My older daughter, Daisy, is a bit like I was as a kid—a weirdo bookworm in the best way—so the library is her favorite place. We’ve been on a mission to take her to every branch in Brooklyn. She loves seeing all the different buildings and exhibits and how they arrange the books.

BDE: And your younger daughter?

AK: Julia’s more like Gabe [Hunt, Katz’s husband], very high energy, a charming little hellion. He coaches her soccer team, and Daisy and I always joke that it’s equally good for both of them to spend the afternoon running around in the park. But all four of us go to story time at the library every weekend. We never miss it unless we’re out of town. It’s one of our most important family traditions.

BDE: Okay. I need to ask you about the photo.

AK: (laughs) Sure, go ahead.

BDE: When Jo Sessego was elected president, the photo on the cover of Time was the moment they officially called the race and she found out she’d won. It’s an amazing image where there’s chaos all around her, people are screaming and cheering, and she’s right on the brink of tears. You can see her really feeling the gravity of what just happened. And right next to her, you and your now husband are locked in this totally passionate kiss.

AK: That was one of the best moments of my life.

BDE: Did you two meet on that campaign?

AK: No, no. We met more than ten years prior, as volunteers on a different presidential campaign. We did not get along initially. But by the time that photo was taken, we were deeply in love. We got engaged a couple of months after that, at President Sessego’s inauguration.

BDE: And now he’s your campaign manager!

AK: Yes! He says I’m the most headstrong candidate he’s ever worked with, and then I say I’m the most headstrong candidate he’s ever worked for.

BDE: It’s not causing marital strife, I hope?

AK: I’m kidding, it isn’t at all. We both have almost a decade of experience now working on local races, so we had a great sense of what to expect going into this.

BDE: Through the firm you own, right? Paving Stone Strategies?

AK: Yes, the firm we co-own with our friends Kira Liu and Simone Humphrey. After President Sessego’s reelection campaign, we all wanted to slow down the pace of our lives a little bit. Simone and Kira wanted to travel more, and Gabe and I wanted kids—and my dad was very eager for us to do that in New York. We felt we’d reached the pinnacle of what we wanted to accomplish as campaigners, and we wanted to focus more on mentorship, helping future generations of staffers and candidates make change in their communities.

BDE: So after all this time, why are you taking the leap of becoming a candidate yourself?

AK: I loved being a campaign staffer. At its heart, a campaign is a conversation with your neighbors about what you want for your collective future. Win or lose, a great campaign can push that conversation forward and set the stage for future progress—sometimes the campaigns you lose do that even more effectively than the ones you win. I want to teach my daughters about that with this race, to help them understand why it’s important to fight for the things you believe in, even when it doesn’t always work out the way you hoped. Maybe especially then. But it’s a strange dichotomy, because a campaign is also more or less a glorified job interview. Gabe always says we’re like the general managers of a baseball team, choosing the players, making moves to help set them up for a great season, but we’re never actually in the lineup. So after twenty years in the front office, I decided it was finally time for me to get on the field.

“Hey, do you have a second?”

Anya looked up from the speech she was drafting. After two decades writing in other candidates’ voices, it was bizarre (and kind of thrilling) to figure out her own. She was sitting on their bed in their sunny Crown Heights apartment; it was early fall, one of those first great weeks when they could finally take the AC units out of the windows and let in some fresh air. Election season—Anya’s favorite.

Gabe must have just showered. He was wearing only underwear, and his hair was damp. Even after all these years of marriage, and now parenting too, it still brought Anya endless delight to look up and see this unbelievably gorgeous man who shared her home.

“Hon, I’d love to have sex, but I don’t think we have time? My dad will be back with the girls any minute.”

“That’s actually not why I came in here—but now it is.” Gabe glanced at the clock on their nightstand. “Shouldn’t they be gone until at least five?”

“For an art museum?” Anya gave him a skeptical look. “You know Julia’s not behaving at the Met for more than an hour.”