Will Vulnerable Republicans Keep Checks From Scandal-Plagued Kelly Loeffler?

Loeffler Personally Donated Thousands of Dollars To Nine Republican Senators While She Traded Stocks During Pandemic

At the same time as she was making “timely trades” in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on the stock market, unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler spread her wealth among nine fellow vulnerable GOP senators, new Federal Election Commission filings show.

Here are the vulnerable Republican senators who cashed checks from embattled appointee Senator Loeffler as she’s “fighting for her political life”:

• Senator Joni Ernst (IA): Accepted $2,800 from Loeffler on February 18, four days after Loeffler invested in teleworking software provider Citrix, whose stock is “up nearly 26 percent this year.”

• Senator John Cornyn (TX): Accepted $2,800 from Loeffler on March 1, two days after Loeffler’s husband, New York Stock Exchange chairman Jeffrey Sprecher, bought over $100,000 worth of stock in DuPont, “a company that makes COVID-19 protective garments.”

• Senator Thom Tillis (NC): Accepted $2,800 from Loeffler on March 3. Weeks later, Tillis said Senator Richard Burr “owes everybody…an explanation” of his own stock trades while staying mum on his campaign donor Loeffler.

• Senator Lindsey Graham (SC): Accepted $2,800 from Loeffler on March 5.

• Senator Susan Collins (ME): Accepted $2,800 from Loeffler on March 17, the same day Collins announced she would “pause most campaign activities.”

• Senator Martha McSally (AZ): Accepted $2,800 from Loeffler on March 18.

• Senator Cory Gardner (CO): Accepted $2,800 from Loeffler on March 23, the same day the Securities & Exchange Commission “issued a sharp warning” on insider trading days after the first story on Loeffler’s well-timed trades.

• Senator Steve Daines (MT): Accepted $2,800 from Loeffler on March 24, the day after the SEC’s “sharp warning” on insider trading.

• Senator David Perdue (GA): Accepted $2,800 from Loeffler on March 24, the day after the SEC’s “sharp warning” on insider trading.

“These Republican senators are so concerned with boosting their campaign coffers as they try to cling to their seats that they’ll take money from an unelected senator whose top priority throughout this public health crisis has apparently been her own stock portfolio,” said DSCC spokesperson Helen Kalla. “As more members of their own party jump ship from Senator Loeffler’s sinking campaign, will these Republican senators keep the checks Loeffler wrote while she was protecting her portfolio during a pandemic?”

Six of the incumbents who accepted the checks were outraised by Democratic challengers — just like Loeffler herself. Her spiraling stock trade scandal began after she and her husband dumped millions in stock following a closed-door Senate briefing on the coronavirus pandemic and invested in “companies that have benefited in the pandemic” — including a firm that “makes COVID-19 protective garments” and a teleworking software provider. Republican leaders publicly have fretted about down-ticket damage and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell initially declined to say whether he still supports Loeffler and was later forced to clarify.

Loeffler attempted to sweep her spiraling stock scandal under the rug with a PR stunt but she still refuses to explain the nature of the arrangement with her portfolio managers and whether she’s ever shared information with them or directed transactions. 

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