The proceedings or setting of an election campaign.
An assembly behind the campaign
combined
Old Norse
hūsthing
‘house assembly; council’
into Old English
Old English
hūsting
‘meeting, court, tribunal’
became Middle English
Middle English
hū̆sting
‘a council or assembly called by a king or other leader; a court meeting regularly in London’
became English
English
hustings
‘the proceedings or locale of an election campaign’
Old Norse hūsthing passed into Old English hūsting and then Middle English. The word has court and election uses.
The English plural-looking ending is later than the selected Norse compound.
The Norse compound contains hūs, house, and thing, assembly.
Husband is probably from Old Norse *husbondi*, from *hus* "house"
The older thing element names a gathering.