By Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Editor and Jerry Hagstrom, DTN Political Correspondent
OMAHA (DTN) -- President-elect Donald Trump on Friday is considering former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler as his nominee for Agriculture secretary.
CNN reported Trump was meeting with Loeffler at his Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss the position.
Loeffler has close ties to Trump and his team. She is co-chair of his inaugural committee alongside real estate investor Steven Witkoff.
Loeffler, who turns 54 next week, was a senator from Georgia for one year from January 2020 to January 2021. She grew up on a corn and soybean farm in McLean County, Illinois. A New York Times article in 2020 cited the farm as 1,800 acres with her father also running a trucking company and serving on a local bank board.
Loeffler Farms is still operating, run by Kelly Loeffler's younger broker Brian and his family, according to the farm's website.
While close to Trump, Loeffler was not among several suggested names floated by people in the agriculture industry or policy circles to fill the position.
Loeffler primarily has worked in financial services throughout her career. In 2002 she began working for the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and eventually became the first chief executive officer (CEO) of Bakkt, a subsidiary of ICE.
ICE was founded by Loeffler's husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, who remains ICE's chairman and CEO. Sprecher also is chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Loeffler contributed as much as $6 million to Trump's campaign and co-chaired a Florida fundraiser for him that also raised more than $50 million for the campaign and the Republican National Committee.
The announcement of Loeffler as Trump's USDA pick also comes just days after media speculated the Trump Media and Technology group was in talks to purchase Bakkt, which is heavily involved in cryptocurrency. The Financial Times reported Trump's media group was close to finalizing a deal to buy Bakkt. Shares of Bakkt soared this week after news first broke about the potential purchase.
Loeffler left her position at Bakkt in late 2019 when Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp appointed her to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Johnny Isakson, who resigned due to health reasons. She served for a year but lost her election bid to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in a Jan. 5, 2021, runoff.
Loeffler was cleared by the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee over stock trades in June 2020 after she and her husband sold millions of dollars in stocks at the very beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Groups alleged she had received information as a senator about the impact of the pandemic before the public.
In her one year in office, Loeffler did serve on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee. During that time, Loeffler and then Sen. David Perdue, also a Republican, asked Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to address the impact of seasonal vegetable imports. The senators wanted Lighthizer to ask the International Trade Commission for a Section 332 investigation into cucumbers and squash in order to determine the impact of these seasonal imports on southeastern markets.
On the campaign trail, Loeffler frequently touted, "I'm the only U.S. senator that has voted 100% with President Trump."
Loeffler attended college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received an MBA from DePaul University, financing her graduate school costs by taking out a mortgage on farm ground she had inherited from her grandparents, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
In a social media post in 2020, Loeffler posted a photo of her walking around a calf. "I grew up on a family farm and learned the value of faith, community and hard work at an early age. FFA does a great job of teaching those same lessons and preparing future farmers and agribusiness leaders for success. Wishing a happy #FFAWeek to all members past and present!"
Trump again showed an affinity for Georgia ties with his pick. Trump's first USDA secretary was Sonny Perdue, who had been Georgia's governor.
In 2010, Loeffler also bought a minority stake in the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and, in 2011, became co-owner of the team.
Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com
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Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@nationaljournal.com
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