Who is Kelly Loeffler?

Kelly Loeffler is an American businesswoman and politician under the Republican party. She is a serving senior US Senator from Georgia, since 2020. Loeffler was previously the chief executive officer of Bakkt, a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, a commodity and financial service provider. She is also the co-owner of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, Atlanta Dream.

Early Life and Education

Kelly Lynn Loeffler was born on November 27, 1970, in Bloomington, Illinois to the family of Don and Lynda (nee Munsell) Loeffler. She was raised on the family’s farm in Stanford, Illinois.

Loeffler had her high school education at Olympia High School in Stanford, where she was an athlete and a member of the school marching band. On graduation, she was admitted into the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign’s Gies College of Business, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in marketing.

Early Career

After completing her masters’ degree (MBA) at DePaul University, Loeffler started her career at Citibank and proceeded to William Blair & Company. She later joined the Crossroads Group. To further her career, Loeffler joined Intercontinental Exchange, a commodity and financial service provider, in 2002. She later married the firm’s CEO, Jeffery Sprecher in 2004. The firm eventually promoted Loeffler to senior vice president of investor relations and corporate communications. In 2018, she was appointed the chief executive officer (CEO) of Bakkt, a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange.

In 2010, Loeffler became a stakeholder of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, the Atlanta Dream, after buying a minority stake. In 2011, she became a co-owner of the team after buying it with Mary Brock, from Kathy Betty.

Loeffler took a bow out of Intercontinental Exchange to pursue a career in politics. The company awarded her more than $9 million worth of financial assets.

Political Career

Loeffler first considered running for the Georgia Senate seat under the Republican party, in 2014. She later put aside her intention to give full attention to Intercontinental Exchange’s pending acquisition at the time.

In December 2019, Loeffler was appointed to the Senate by Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia. She succeeded Johnny Isakson who resigned due to health concerns. Loeffler contested in the Georgia 2020 U.S Senate special election. The winner of the election will hold the Senate seat through January 3, 2023. Loeffler finished second in the November 3 election and proceeded to a runoff with Democrat Raphael Warnock which was held on January 5, 2021. In the early hours of January 6, Warnock was declared the winner, as reported by major media outlets including The New York Times, Decision Desk HQ, NBC News, and the Associated Press.

Loeffler is a strong supporter of President Donald Trump and his administration. She often boasted about her 100 percent voting record for the US President during the 2020 campaign. She drew much attention to herself after she was allegedly said to be involved in the 2020 congressional insider trading scandal. The scandal allegedly involved selling stock in companies vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic, on the same day she attended a private briefing with the Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, before the public was informed about the severity of the virus.

The Department of Justice and the Senate Ethics Committee both dropped all probes on Loeffler on the grounds of not finding any solid evidence against her and her violation of the federal law, Senate rules or standards of conduct.

Loeffler played a crucial role in the November election, in support of President Trump. She and David Perdue, a fellow senator claimed that there had been “failures” in the election, without presenting solid evidence. The duo called for the resignation of Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, who denied all accusations.

In a bid to reject the election results, Loeffler teamed up with some Trump allies over a lawsuit to revoke the election results. She also made known her intention to object to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden by the Electoral College in Congress. However, the event that occurred at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 caused Loeffler to cancel her intention to vote against the certification of the results, and instead voted to certify the election.

On January 7, 2021, Loeffler conceded the Senate seat to Warnock.