Krystal Ball

2010 U.S. Congressional campaign

In 2010 Ball ran to represent Virginia's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives and was defeated by Republican incumbent Rob Wittman. Despite being defeated by a margin of 63.90% to 34.76%,^[11] the former candidate was named by Forbes Magazine as number 21 on the magazine's "The Top 25 Most Powerful Women Of The Midterm Elections".^[12]

During the campaign, Ball supported education reform, including charter schools, using technology, alternative certification of teachers, and paying teachers six figure salaries.^[13] She also called for a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress, banning lobbyist gifts, increasing disclosure, and establishing a new Independent Ethics Commission to investigate and audit influence by special interests.^[14] Of Ball's funding, 72 percent was from out of state donors.^[15]

In October 2010, while in the final stages of her Congressional campaign, Ball received national attention when photos taken six years earlier emerged showing her at a holiday party dressed as a "naughty Santa" sucking a red dildo attached to her husband's nose and leading him around on a leash.^[16] The event quickly became a launching point for Ball, resulting in her being called upon by various news organizations for her inputs on the challenges faced by women in today's society and political environment.

Political action committee

In May 2017, Ball created the People's House Project, a political action committee (PAC) purportedly working on behalf of Democratic causes.^[17] However, in May 2018, McClatchy reported,

thus far, nobody has benefited more financially from the group than Ball herself. Of the $445,000 Ball raised for the group, she paid herself more than a third of that—$174,000—in salary, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission. The majority of her salary—$104,000—came in the first three months of this year alone. That's nearly eight times more than the nearly $22,000 the PHP has used to support its dozen endorsed candidates, some of whom have received just a single $1,000 contribution.^[17]

According to McClatchy, PACs where the founders of the committee earn vastly more than is given in contributions to individual candidates are referred to as "Scam PACs".^[17] Ball responded to McClatchy's reporting, saying that her salary ought to be $180,000 annually, but that because the PAC receives money in fits and starts, she paid herself a large sum in the first months of 2018 as backpay for what she should have earned in 2017.^[17] Ball further explained the basis for her payments and the services the PAC provided to progressive House Congressional candidates in an interview on TYT Investigates.^[18]

Media

Hosts of The Cycle in 2013: Ari Melber, Krystal Ball, Touré and Abby Huntsman

Ball has made multiple appearances as a political commentator and Democratic strategist on television news channels, including Fox News Channel, CNN, CNBC, and is a contributor under contract for MSNBC.^[19][20] She is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.^[21] On June 25, 2012, Ball became one of four co-hosts on a new MSNBC show, The Cycle, with Touré, Steve Kornacki, and S.E. Cupp. It replaced the Dylan Ratigan show in 2012, where Ball had been a regular guest on a panel of political pundits.^[22] It was announced during the July 31, 2015 taping that The Cycle has been cancelled, as NBC revamped its weekday afternoon programming.

Ball's book Reversing the Apocalypse: Hijacking the Democratic Party to Save the World was published in 2017, in which she argued that the Democratic Party needed to return to its New Deal roots by emulating Franklin Delano Roosevelt and advocating a more economically interventionist agenda than it has done in recent decades.^[1]

In 2018, Ball, along with conservative radio talk-show host Buck Sexton, hosts a new show called Rising at The Hill.^[23]