Kelly Lynn Loeffler (, ; born November 27, 1970) is an American businesswoman and politician who served as a
United States senator
The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
for
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
from 2020 to 2021. Loeffler was
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
(CEO) of
Bakkt
Bakkt Holdings, Inc. is an American corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BKKT. The company operates a technology platform for the management of digital assets. The platform provides products and services relate ...
, a subsidiary of commodity and financial service provider
Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the Fortune 500, S&P 500, and Russe ...
, of which her husband,
Jeffrey Sprecher
Jeffrey Craig Sprecher (, , born February 23, 1955) is an American businessman, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Early life
Sprecher was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the s ...
, is CEO. She is a former co-owner of the
Atlanta Dream
The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real ...
of the
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...
(WNBA). Loeffler is a member of the
Republican Party.
Brian Kemp
Brian Porter Kemp (born November 2, 1963) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 83rd governor of Georgia since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Kemp served as the 27th secretary of state of Georgia from 2010 t ...
, the Republican
governor of Georgia
The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legisl ...
, appointed Loeffler to the U.S. Senate in December 2019 after Senator
Johnny Isakson
John Hardy Isakson (December 28, 1944 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2005 to 2019 as a member of the Republican Party. He represented in the United State ...
resigned for health reasons. Loeffler ran in the
2020 Georgia U.S. Senate special election, seeking to hold the Senate seat until January 3, 2023. She finished second in the November 3 election, advancing to a runoff with
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Raphael Warnock
Raphael Gamaliel Warnock ( ; born July 23, 1969) is an American Baptist pastor and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he assumed office on January 20, 2021.
Since 2 ...
held on January 5, 2021.
She lost the runoff election to Warnock. In the same election, her fellow Georgia senator,
David Perdue
David Alfred Perdue Jr. (; born December 10, 1949) is an American politician and business executive who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Republican Pa ...
, also lost. When Perdue's term ended on January 3, 2021, Loeffler ascended to be the
senior senator
United States senators are conventionally ranked by the length of their tenure in the Senate. The senator in each U.S. state with the longer time in office is known as the ''senior senator''; the other is the ''junior senator''. This convention ...
from Georgia, a position she held for just under three weeks, until Warnock and
Jon Ossoff
Thomas Jonathan Ossoff ( ; born February 16, 1987) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Ossoff was previously a documentary filmmaker and investigativ ...
were sworn in.
Loeffler aligned with President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, touting her "100 percent Trump voting record" during the campaign.
After the November 2020 election, Loeffler and fellow Georgia senator
David Perdue
David Alfred Perdue Jr. (; born December 10, 1949) is an American politician and business executive who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Republican Pa ...
claimed without evidence that there had been unspecified failures in the election, and called for the resignation of
Georgia Secretary of State
The Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records.
The office has had a four-year term since 1946. Before 1880, the ...
Brad Raffensperger
Bradford Jay Raffensperger (born May 18, 1955) is an American politician, businessman, and civil engineer, serving as the Secretary of State of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Georgia House of R ...
, who rejected the accusations. She later supported
a lawsuit by Trump allies seeking to overturn the election results,
and also announced her intention to object to the certification of the Electoral College results in Congress. After the
attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Loeffler announced that she would withdraw her objection to the certification of the electoral votes and later voted to certify.
Early life and education
Loeffler was born in
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington ...
, to Don and Lynda (née Munsell) Loeffler, and raised on her family's corn and
soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...
farm in
Stanford, Illinois.
She has a brother, Brian. In 1988, she graduated from
Olympia High School in Stanford, where she was in marching band, ran cross-country and track, and played varsity basketball.
In 1992, Loeffler graduated with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
in
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
from the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...
's
Gies College of Business
Gies College of Business is the business school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a Public university, public research university in Champaign, Illinois. The college offers undergraduate program, masters programs, and a PhD program ...
, where she was a member of the
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Gamma Delta (), also known as Alpha Gam, is an international women's fraternity and social organization. It was founded on May 30, 1904, by eleven female students at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, making it the youngest member ...
sorority.
After college, she worked for
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
as a District Account Manager.
In 1999, Loeffler graduated with a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
(MBA) in international finance and marketing from
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...
's
Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
The Charles H. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business is part of the DePaul University Driehaus College of Business, a business school located in the Chicago Loop, Illinois, United States. The Driehaus College of Business (called the College of C ...
.
She financed her graduate school tuition by mortgaging land inherited from her grandparents.
Early career
After earning her MBA, Loeffler worked for
Citibank
Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
,
William Blair & Company
William Blair & Company ("William Blair") is American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company focusing on investment banking, investment management, and private wealth management. The firm currently reports $17 b ...
, and the
Crossroads Group. In 2002, she joined
Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the Fortune 500, S&P 500, and Russe ...
, a commodity and financial service provider, in investor relations.
She married the firm's CEO,
Jeffrey Sprecher
Jeffrey Craig Sprecher (, , born February 23, 1955) is an American businessman, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Early life
Sprecher was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the s ...
, in 2004.
Loeffler was eventually promoted to senior vice president of investor relations and corporate communications.
In 2018, she became the
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
(CEO) of
Bakkt
Bakkt Holdings, Inc. is an American corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BKKT. The company operates a technology platform for the management of digital assets. The platform provides products and services relate ...
, a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange.
In 2010, Loeffler bought a minority stake in the
Atlanta Dream
The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real ...
of the
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...
(WNBA).
In 2011, she and
Mary Brock bought the team from Kathy Betty.
Loeffler took an active role in the team, arranging her travel schedule to attend all games and often meeting with head coach
Michael Cooper
Michael Jerome Cooper (born April 15, 1956) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the boys varsity coach at Culver City High School. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning ...
during halftime to analyze the first half of the game.
In February 2021, Loeffler sold her stake in the team.
When Loeffler left Intercontinental Exchange to join the Senate, the company awarded her over $9 million of financial assets. A spokesperson for Loeffler said Loeffler "left millions in equity compensation behind" by joining the Senate.
Political donations
According to
OpenSecrets
OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...
, as of December 2019, Loeffler and her husband,
Jeffrey Sprecher
Jeffrey Craig Sprecher (, , born February 23, 1955) is an American businessman, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Early life
Sprecher was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the s ...
, had donated $3.2 million to political committees. Ninety-seven percent of these donations went to
Republicans, and three percent to
Democrats, including
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
,
Chris Dodd
Christopher John Dodd (born May 27, 1944) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1981 to 2011. Dodd is the longest-serving senator in Connecticut's history. H ...
,
Debbie Stabenow
Deborah Ann Stabenow ( ; née Greer, born April 29, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Michigan, a seat she has held since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she became the state's first female ...
,
and Georgia Congressman
David Scott
David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) is an American retired test pilot and NASA astronaut who was the seventh person to walk on the Moon. Selected as part of the third group of astronauts in 1963, Scott flew to space three times and c ...
(GA–13), who received $10,200.
Loeffler donated $750,000 to Restore Our Future
Restore Our Future is a political action committee (PAC) created to support Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. Presidential election. A so-called Super PAC, Restore Our Future is permitted to raise and spend unlimited amounts of corporate, union, and ...
, a super PAC supporting former Governor Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...
's 2012 presidential campaign. The National Republican Senatorial Committee
The National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) is the Republican Hill committee for the United States Senate, working to elect Republicans to that body. The NRSC was founded in 1916 as the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. It was reorgan ...
received $247,500 from Loeffler and Sprecher. In May 2020, Loeffler's husband gave $1 million to a Trump 2020 reelection super PAC, his largest federal political donation to date.
U.S. Senate
Appointment
Loeffler considered seeking the Republican nomination in the 2014 United States Senate election in Georgia but ultimately passed on the race because of Intercontinental Exchange's pending acquisition of the New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
.
On August 28, 2019, sitting Georgia senator Johnny Isakson
John Hardy Isakson (December 28, 1944 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2005 to 2019 as a member of the Republican Party. He represented in the United State ...
announced that he would resign at the end of the year, citing health reasons. On December 4, 2019, in accordance with Georgia law, Governor Kemp appointed Loeffler to fill Isakson's unexpired term until the next regularly scheduled statewide election in November 2020. Kemp traveled to Washington to explain why he wanted to appoint Loeffler instead of Trump's choice, Representative Doug Collins, who helped lead the House opposition to Trump's impeachment. The choice of Loeffler angered many Georgia conservatives who had supported Collins.
On January 6, 2020, Loeffler was sworn into the Senate. She became the second female to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. The first was Rebecca Latimer Felton
Rebecca Ann Felton (née Latimer; June 10, 1835 – January 24, 1930) was an American writer, lecturer, feminist, suffragist, reformer, slave owner, and politician who was the first woman to serve in the United States Senate, although she serve ...
, also the first female U.S. Senator, who served a symbolic one-day term in 1922. The appointment was valid until the runoff election scheduled for January 5, because no candidate in the November 2020 election received a majority of the vote.
Tenure and political positions
Loeffler called herself the most conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
Republican in the Senate and allied herself with President Trump. During her tenure in the Senate, Loeffler sponsored 57 bills and cosponsored 210. She voted in line with President Trump's stated position 80% of the time.
Loeffler supported Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
. Loeffler opposed abortion and supported anti-abortion legislation. The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (formerly Susan B. Anthony List) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization that seeks to reduce and ultimately end abortion in the U.S. by supporting anti-abortion politicians, primarily women, through its SBA List ...
initially opposed Loeffler's appointment, but endorsed her in the 2020 election. Loeffler donated portions of her Senate salary to anti-abortion pregnancy centers and an anti-LGBTQ
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
adoption agency.
On gun issues, Loeffler received "A" ratings from the National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
and Gun Owners of America
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a gun rights organization in the United States. It makes efforts to differentiate itself from the larger National Rifle Association (NRA) and has publicly criticized the NRA on multiple occasions for what it consid ...
. She cosponsored the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act and opposed the assault weapons ban and red flag law
In the United States, a red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who they believe may present a danger to others or themselves. A judge makes the determina ...
proposals. Loeffler supported constructing a border wall
A border barrier is a separation barrier that runs along or near an international border. Such barriers are typically constructed for border control purposes such as curbing illegal immigration, human trafficking, and smuggling. Some such barr ...
along the Mexico–United States border
The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...
, and the appointment of conservative judges to federal courts. In September 2020, she introduced legislation to the Senate floor that would bar transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
girls and women from participating in girls' and women's sports. The bill stated "sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth".
In February 2020, Loeffler said that "Democrats have dangerously and intentionally misled the American people on #Coronavirus readiness". She went on to say that regarding COVID-19, "Americans are in good hands with" the Trump administration.[ In March 2020, Loeffler said that the U.S. was "in the best economic position" to handle COVID-19.][ She criticized Democrats, writing that they "continue to play politics with" COVID-19.][
In October 2020, shortly after Trump and First Lady ]Melania Trump
Melania Trump ( ; born Melanija Knavs , Germanized as Melania Knauss ; born April 26, 1970) is a Slovene-American former model and businesswoman who served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of 45th president Do ...
were diagnosed with COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
after attending events where they closely interacted with other individuals while maskless, Loeffler, who often appeared at rallies and gatherings without wearing a mask,[ blamed their contraction of the disease on the ]People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, tweeting, "China gave this virus to our President @realDonaldTrump and First Lady @FLOTUS. WE MUST HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE."
During the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count
The count of the Electoral College ballots during a joint session of the 117th United States Congress, pursuant to the Electoral Count Act, on January 6–7, 2021, was the final step to confirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 20 ...
in January 2021, Loeffler was slated to vote against the measure, but after the storming of the U.S. Capitol, which Loeffler witnessed, she changed her mind, saying, "The events that transpired have forced me to reconsider. I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of the votes."
Committees
* Committee on Health Education Labor & Pensions
** Subcommittee on Children and Families
** Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
** Primary Health and Retirement Security
*Joint Economic Committee
The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) is one of four standing joint committees of the U.S. Congress. The committee was established as a part of the Employment Act of 1946, which deemed the committee responsible for reporting the current economic co ...
* Committee on Veterans Affairs
* Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry
** Conservation, Forestry, and Natural Resources
** Livestock, Marketing, and Agriculture Security
COVID-19 insider trading investigation
On March 19, 2020, the release of federal financial disclosure
Financial disclosure of public servants (asset declaration) is a disclosure of financial information by public servants. It is a requirement of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
History
Not counting states in the USA, ...
documents showed that Loeffler and her husband Jeffrey Sprecher
Jeffrey Craig Sprecher (, , born February 23, 1955) is an American businessman, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Early life
Sprecher was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the s ...
, chairman and CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the Fortune 500, S&P 500, and Russe ...
(a corporation that owns the New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
), had sold stock in companies vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
with an aggregate value of several million dollars. They began selling stocks on January 24, the same day Loeffler attended a private briefing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions on the spread of the disease, before the public had been alerted to its severity. Loeffler denied any wrongdoing, saying the trades were made by a third-party advisor and that she learned about them only after they occurred. Between January 24 and February 14, the couple sold between $1.275 and $3.1 million worth of stock in 27 companies, while buying stocks worth between $450,000 and $1 million, including in Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc. is an American multinational cloud computing and virtualization technology company that provides server, application and desktop virtualization, networking, software as a service (SaaS), and cloud computing technologies. C ...
, which develops remote collaboration software.
The government watchdog group Common Cause
Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President L ...
filed complaints with the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
and the Senate Ethics Committee, alleging possible violations of the STOCK Act and insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider information ...
laws in the matter of stock sales by Loeffler and three other senators, Richard Burr
Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who is the senior United States senator from North Carolina, serving since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, Burr was previously a member of the United ...
, Jim Inhofe
James Mountain Inhofe ( ; born November 17, 1934) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Oklahoma, a seat he was first elected to in 1994. A member of the Republican Party, he chaired the U.S. Senate Commit ...
, and Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was ...
. Loeffler and Sprecher had sold at least $18.7 million in Intercontinental Exchange stock before the 2020 stock market crash
On 20 February 2020, stock markets across the world suddenly crashed after growing instability due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ended on 7 April 2020.
Beginning on 13 May 2019, the yield curve on U.S. Treasury securities inverted, and rema ...
. After being criticized for the trades, Loeffler and Sprecher sold their individual stocks in an effort "to move beyond the distraction" caused by trades they made before and during the market decline caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. On May 26, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had closed its inquiry into Loeffler. On June 16, 2020, the Senate Ethics Committee dismissed Common Cause's complaint, writing to Loeffler, "Based on all the information before it, the Committee did not find evidence that your actions violated federal law, Senate Rules or standards of conduct."
2020–21 U.S. Senate special election
Loeffler ran to serve the remaining two years of the Senate term to which she had been appointed. She planned to spend $20 million of her own money on her campaign. Under Georgia's election law, all candidates for the seat (regardless of political party) compete in a nonpartisan blanket primary; in addition to Democratic candidates, Loeffler, backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee
The National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) is the Republican Hill committee for the United States Senate, working to elect Republicans to that body. The NRSC was founded in 1916 as the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. It was reorgan ...
, was challenged by fellow Republican Doug Collins, who represented Georgia's 9th congressional district.
In July 2020, Loeffler, who co-owned the Atlanta Dream, wrote the WNBA a public letter objecting to players wearing shirts with "Black Lives Matter" and "Say Her Name" printed on them, and suggesting they wear American flags instead.[ She stated her opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement, saying it "advocates things like defunding and abolishing the police, abolishing our military, emptying our prisons, destroying the nuclear family" and "promotes violence and antisemitism".] Her comments led some WNBA players to call for her removal from ownership. Loeffler later said that the movement was "based on Marxist principles" and threatens to "destroy" America. In August 2020, players from the Dream and several other teams wore "Vote Warnock" T-shirts in support of one of Loeffler's Raphael Warnock, Democratic challengers in the special election.
During her 2020 campaign, Loeffler said that she had never disagreed with Trump. When she was asked about the Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump discusses groping women, Loeffler replied that she was "not familiar with that". When she was separately asked about a recording of Trump telling Bob Woodward that he was intentionally downplaying Coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19 in public, she responded that it was "fake news".
During the 2020 campaign, Loeffler touted that she had been endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a controversial Republican who won the election for Georgia's 14th congressional district. Greene had a history of promotion of the QAnon conspiracy theory and of commentary that has been considered racism, racist. Asked whether she accepted Greene's endorsement given Greene's history of remarks, Loeffler said she knew nothing about QAnon and criticized the media for misrepresenting or faking events.
As no candidate received over 50% of the vote in the election, Loeffler, who came in second, participated in a runoff election on January 5, 2021, against the primary's first-place finisher, Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock
Raphael Gamaliel Warnock ( ; born July 23, 1969) is an American Baptist pastor and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he assumed office on January 20, 2021.
Since 2 ...
. The other senate race from the state between David Perdue
David Alfred Perdue Jr. (; born December 10, 1949) is an American politician and business executive who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Republican Pa ...
and Jon Ossoff
Thomas Jonathan Ossoff ( ; born February 16, 1987) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Ossoff was previously a documentary filmmaker and investigativ ...
also went to a runoff. This meant if Democrats won both seats, which they ultimately did, they would take control of the senate in a 50–50 tie, because of the Vice President Kamala Harris having a tie breaking vote. After the November election, Loeffler and the other U.S. Senator from Georgia, David Perdue
David Alfred Perdue Jr. (; born December 10, 1949) is an American politician and business executive who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Republican Pa ...
, claimed without evidence that there had been "failures" in the election, and called for the resignation of the Georgia Secretary of State
The Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records.
The office has had a four-year term since 1946. Before 1880, the ...
Brad Raffensperger
Bradford Jay Raffensperger (born May 18, 1955) is an American politician, businessman, and civil engineer, serving as the Secretary of State of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Georgia House of R ...
, a fellow Republican. Their rhetoric fed into falsehoods and conspiracy theories among segments of the right, including Trump, who lost the presidential election to Joe Biden. There was no evidence of wrongdoing in connection with the election. Raffensperger rejected the calls for his resignation.[ According to ''Politico'', Loeffler repeated Trump's baseless claims of fraud because she wanted the support of Trump and his core voters in the January runoff.] In December 2020, Loeffler supported a lawsuit by Trump allies seeking to overturn the election results.
On November 20, 2020, Loeffler spoke without a mask at a rally in Canton, Georgia, 46 days before the runoff. Later that day, she tested positive for COVID-19; the result of a subsequent test the following day was inconclusive. She had intermittently worn a mask while campaigning.[ Attendees at her rallies were mostly maskless. As a consequence of the initial positive test result, Loeffler canceled future appearances at rallies, entering quarantine for the recommended time period.] On January 1, 2021, Loeffler absented herself from the successful override of Trump's veto of the defense spending bill.
Throughout the campaign she sought to win the support of pro-Trump voters. She touted her endorsement from Trump; he held a rally in the state shortly before the election. At the rally, he asked his supporters to vote for Loeffler, also repeating debunked voter fraud allegations. Her campaign tried to paint her opponent Raphael Warnock
Raphael Gamaliel Warnock ( ; born July 23, 1969) is an American Baptist pastor and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he assumed office on January 20, 2021.
Since 2 ...
as a socialist in a series of campaign ads, calling for people to vote for her to "hold the line" against what she called socialism. In a December 6, 2020, debate she repeatedly accused her opponent of being a "radical liberal" and refused to admit Joe Biden was the winner of the 2020 United States presidential election. With Democrats in the race calling for $2,000 COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
stimulus payments if they won and Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
backing the policy, she announced she would back the payments.
The Associated Press called the race for Warnock in the early morning hours of January 6. His win was attributed to a large black voter turnout in the runoff. That same day, Loeffler planned to object to the certified election results, but after the 2021 United States Capitol attack, storming of the United States Capitol, she withdrew her objection and accepted the results. The next day, Loeffler conceded to Warnock.
Greater Georgia
Following the special election, Loeffler founded Greater Georgia, an organization that planned to register likely conservative voters in Georgia, expand conservative messaging infrastructure, and Republican efforts to make voting laws more restrictive following the 2020 presidential election#Georgia, advocate for more restrictive voting laws. Loeffler personally invested at least $1 million in the organization.
Personal life
Loeffler is a Roman Catholic.
In 2004, Loeffler married Jeffrey Sprecher
Jeffrey Craig Sprecher (, , born February 23, 1955) is an American businessman, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Early life
Sprecher was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the s ...
, the founder and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the Fortune 500, S&P 500, and Russe ...
and Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
. They live in Tuxedo Park, Atlanta, in a $10.5 million, estate, bought in 2013 in what was then the most expensive residential real estate transaction ever recorded in Atlanta. They have four additional homes and a condo. In November 2020, ''Newsweek'' reported Loeffler's and Sprecher's combined net worth at 800 million, making her the wealthiest sitting U.S. Senator at the time.
Loeffler used a Bombardier Challenger 300 private jet for her Senate work and political campaigning.
Electoral history
See also
*Women in conservatism in the United States
*Women in the United States Senate
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Loeffler, Kelly
1970 births
Living people
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Intercontinental Exchange
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