On Tuesday, February 11, Congressional Candidate for the 2nd district of Virginia Ben Loyola came and spoke to students at Kempsville High School in association with the Young Republicans Club.

“My parents instilled in me the importance of education,” said Loyola, introducing himself, “My first language is Spanish, but I did well all the way through high school. I got picked up to the Naval Academy of Annapolis, Maryland, on scholarship. I ended up becoming a naval aviator and I retired after thirty years as a Navy captain.”

Loyola opened up about his beliefs and why he is running for office. “I was really concerned about what was going on. I saw the direction of the country when, you know you can have difference of opinions on how to run things and how to institute laws, but unfortunately, when organizations say they are embodying Socialist principles, and we want to give something to everyone for free, that doesn’t make sense. Common sense prevails there.”

“You don’t want people that are preaching and have never done it themselves,” commented Loyola, “You want people that have done things correctly.”

When asked what his issues he wanted to focus on were, Loyola responded, “Economy is number one. We want prosperity in this great country and free-market principles. I am very pro what it takes to make a strong economy.”

Loyola continued with, “I believe one Constitutional mandate is strong defense. We cannot be a weak America. From there, it goes on forever, we could be here for hours.”

Loyola will be facing three other Republican candidates in the June 9 primary, hoping to take on incumbent, Elaine Luria. You can find more information on Ben Loyala at https://benloyola.com/.