President-elect Donald Trump has added to his feature cabinet through the nomination of former Sen. Kelly Loeffler to lead the Small Business Administration, according to a Dec. 4 report from CNN.
"Kelly will bring her experience in business and Washington to reduce red tape, and unleash opportunity for our Small Businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive. She will focus on ensuring that SBA is accountable to Taxpayers by cracking down on waste, fraud, and regulatory overreach," Mr. Trump posted on social media website Truth Social.
Ms. Loeffler will also co-chair the Trump inauguration. Mr. Trump was allegedly poised to offer the former senator a different position, according to the report.
Ms. Loeffler briefly represented Georgia in the Senate and fundraised for Trump during the 2024 race, raising several million dollars for his campaign.
She was one of the wealthiest lawmakers in Congress, with her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, serving as CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange.
When she ran for election in 2020, she and her husband divested from individual stocks. She was appointed to the Senate by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in 2020, but Ms. Loeffler lost her seat in a 2021 runoff to Democrat Raphael Warnock.
During her time in Congress, she was an ally of Mr. Trump, saying that she planned to vote against certifying her state's electoral results in support of Mr. Trump's effort to challenge Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
After the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Ms. Loeffler changed her tune, stating that "the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors.”
She was among the witnesses who appeared before the grand jury as part of Mr. Trump's 2020 election subversion criminal case in Georgia.
Before she joined the Senate, Ms. Loeffler served as an executive at a financial services firm in Atlanta and was co-owner of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream.
Ms. Loeffler would need to be confirmed by the Senate to lead the SBA.