Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler exits the C.T. Martin Recreation Center in Atlanta, where she worked as a poll monitor during the 2024 election. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
A U.S. Senate committee has approved businesswoman and former Georgia U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler to lead the Small Business Administration under President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Loeffler will still need approval from the full Senate for confirmation.
Prior to entering politics, Loffler was best known as co-owner of the Atlanta Dream WNBA team, but she’s had experience in numerous sectors of the economy. Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is CEO of the Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange. In 2022, Forbes reported he was officially a billionaire.
Loeffler was appointed to the Senate by Gov. Brian Kemp at the end of 2019 to after then-Sen. Johnny Isakson stepped down because of his declining health.
At the time, Loeffler was considered a business-friendly figure who could appeal to moderate suburban voters who may have found Trump’s personality distasteful.
Her deep pockets likely didn’t hurt either – Loeffler was considered to be likely the richest senator during her time in office.
Loeffler and other senators came under fire for alleged insider trading after allegedly selling off significant amounts of stock after receiving confidential briefings on the seriousness of the expected COVID-19 pandemic.
The Senate Ethics Committee found no evidence of wrongdoing, but the allegations harmed her election campaign, which came soon after she took office because she was appointed rather than elected. Loeffler lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock in a runoff following Trump’s 2020 defeat.
Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen likely also harmed Loeffler’s chances, but if she resented the former president, she never showed it.
Loeffler and Sprecher poured millions into Trump-aligned groups, and Loeffler co-chaired his second inauguration committee.
Loeffler voted to confirm the results of the 2020 election as one of her final acts in office, telling reporters that she planned to vote the other way before witnessing the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Her post-Senate work has included founding a voter registration and advocacy group called Greater Georgia.
During her confirmation hearing last week, Loeffler emphasized her roots and work with small businesses.
“Small business is in my DNA,” she said. “I grew up the fourth generation on our family’s farm in Illinois. My wonderful parents, Don and Linda, didn’t have degrees, but they had faith and grit. They worked relentlessly to sustain our farm and small trucking company, risking everything to provide for us while navigating volatile commodity markets and complex regulations, and facing countless day-to-day challenges. It’s where my Midwestern work ethic was ingrained, working in our soybean fields and waiting tables at local restaurants, preparing me for a lifetime of growing and starting businesses.”
Americus Republican state Rep. Mike Cheokas, who chairs the House Small Business Development Committee, said Loeffler’s business acumen and Georgia ties will mean good news for Georgia’s small business owners.
“I think the fit is perfect, and it’s kind of a pat on the back for the state of Georgia to have the head of the Small Business Administration coming from the state of Georgia and a former senator, and a very successful entrepreneur,” he said.
“It puts Georgia way ahead of everybody else because she’s got to come back home here,” he added. “This is her home. She may be working in Washington, but this is home.”
If Loeffler ever gets lonely up in Washington, she may have some fellow Georgians to remind her of home, including Georgia Emergency Management Administration Director Chris Stallings, who is set to work for Loeffler as the Small Business Administration’s assistant administrator for disaster Recovery and Resilience.
As GEMA chief, Stallings oversaw response efforts for disasters including Hurricane Helene and other major storms and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Loeffler could also have the chance to reconnect with her old frenemy former Congressman Doug Collins, another staunch Trump ally who was confirmed to head the Veterans Affairs Department Tuesday.
Collins was Trump’s No. 1 choice to replace Isakson. He dropped out of Congress to mount a bid for Loeffler’s seat in 2020, but he came in third place in a crowded and acrimonious jungle-style primary that included name-calling and accusations of liberal tendencies.
Two more Georgians with strong Trump ties are set to serve far from the Peach State or Washington.
Former Sen. David Perdue, who served in the Senate alongside Loeffler before losing in the same runoff to Sen. Jon Ossoff, was tapped by Trump as ambassador to China. Perdue has echoed Trump’s false election fraud claim and was hand-picked by the former president to challenge Kemp in 2022 when the president and the governor were on the outs.
And former football star Herschel Walker could be spending time in the sunny Bahamas as the U.S. ambassador there. Walker ran an unsuccessful campaign against Warnock for Loeffler’s old seat in 2022 but fell short despite Trump’s endorsement.
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