EXCLUSIVE – Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia will make her first visit to Capitol Hill since President-elect Trump nominated her to steer the Small Business Administration (SBA) in his second term in the White House.
Fox News has learned that Loeffler will meet on Tuesday with roughly a dozen Republican senators. Among those she'll huddle with are Sen. John Barasso of Wyoming, who ranks third in GOP Senate leadership and is the incoming Majority Whip, and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, the incoming chair of the Senate Small Business Committee.
Loeffler, who hails from a family of small business owners and entrepreneurs, was raised working on the family farm in Illinois. After becoming the first in her family to graduate college, she spent nearly three decades working her way up in the private sector.
Along with her husband Jeff, Loeffler built a Fortune 500 financial services and technology company from 100 employees to 15,000.
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Loeffler later launched another company, named Bakkt, as its founding CEO and first employee. She was also a part owner of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream.
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"As an entrepreneur and business leader who founded startups and helped build a Fortune 500 company, Senator Loeffler looks forward to meeting with her former colleagues this week to discuss empowering America’s job creators," Loeffler spokesperson Caitlin O'Dea told Fox News in a statement. "She is honored to be President Trump’s choice to lead the SBA, and, if confirmed, looks forward to advancing his agenda to make the small business economy great again."
Loeffler and her husband have long been major donors to Republican causes and and candidates, including Trump. Loeffler serves as co-chair of the president-elect's inaugural committee.
Trump called Loeffler, a longtime ally, "tremendous fighter" as he announced her nomination as SBA administrator.
And Ernst, in a statement, said that "as a successful business owner, Kelly knows what it takes to innovate and create jobs that support American families, and I am confident that she will fight to get Washington bureaucrats off the backs of our nation's small businesses."
While successful in the business world, Loeffler was not well known until becoming a politician.
After GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson resigned from the Senate at the end of 2019 due to his deteriorating health, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia appointed Loeffler to fill Isakson's unexpired term until the next regular election.
Loeffler narrowly lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock in a runoff election in January 2021, after no candidate topped 50% of the vote in a crowded field of contenders in the November 2020 Senate election.
