GNU Emacs mostly does work, however there are a few issues.

2023-08-31

Emacs version 27.1 runs on Debian GNU/Hurd, but it does not run super smoothly on the Hurd console. Emacs will run in the Hurd console, but not as well. These three commands kill emacs in the Hurd console pretty reliably:

 (use-package magit :ensure t)
 M-x package-list-packages
 M-x find-file ~/.authinfo.gpg

Emacs does runs much better under X. Most things work well: org-mode, gnus, erc, etc.

You can easily install many Emacs packages with apt:

 # apt install elpa-zenburn-theme