Krystal Ball is a Democratic candidate for Congress in Virginia’s First District. Ball is a University of Virginia alumna and an entrepreneur whose business is designing educational software. This November, she will face incumbent Republican Congressman Rob Wittman, who first came to office in a special election following the death of his predecessor, Jo Ann Davis, in December 2007.

Ball was one of the guests at Equality Virginia’s Commonwealth Dinner in Richmond on May 1. During the cocktail hour preceding dinner, the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner was able to ask her a couple of questions.

As she prepares for the general election campaign, Ball said, “A lot of what we’re doing now is talking to people and figuring out what their major concerns are.”

Top Concerns
What is she hearing? A lot “about the economy, making sure we have jobs in the district” and about “education for their kids, making sure every child in the First District has access to world-class education.”

Another issue of concern is “preserving the Chesapeake Bay. There was some good news recently,” Ball pointed out, that “the blue crab populations are coming back but Congressman Rob Wittman took a vote against the Clean Estuaries Act which could really set us back in terms of Bay clean-up.”

Liberals and Libertarians
Noting that Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute has proposed a “liberaltarian” alliance between libertarians and liberals, Ball addressed the question of whether she thinks there is room for libertarians in the Democratic party or in the progressive movement.

“I do,” she said, “particularly on social issues.”

Ball explained: “I think conservatives can be very inconsistent. They want government very involved in certain personal decisions but they want government way out of other decisions. I think there are some things that libertarians and Democrats and progressives have in common.”

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