Trump picks Kelly Loeffler for Ag secretary: Report

On By Littum

Donald Trump is set to offer GOP donor and former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) the role of Agriculture Secretary, CNN reports.

The offer has not yet been finalized but is currently in the works, according to two sources. Trump and Loeffler will meet at Mar-a-Lago on Friday afternoon.

Her last tour in government came after Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) announced his retirement in 2019. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) picked Loeffler to be his replacement, a decision Trump reportedly was unhappy with.

In fact, Trump had another challenger in mind, then-Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported then. Kemp overruled his concerns and appointed Loeffler anyway; Collins is now Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Loeffler’s years in the Senate were marked by turmoil. Collins chose to run against her in the 2020 all-party special election, attacking her from the right, particularly around her role as co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, which had some ties to liberal causes.

After the WNBA supported the Black Lives Matter movement during the 2020 racial justice protests, Loeffler came out against BLM.

“There is no place for racism in this country. We can’t have it,” Loeffler said during a campaign stop. “But there is an organization that is different from the saying, an organization called Black Lives Matter, that is based on Marxist principles. Marxism supports socialism.”

Collins and Loeffler split the Republican vote in the November election, with Loeffler qualifying for re-election. In the final contest, now-Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) won by 2 percentage points, knocking her out of her Senate seat.

But Loeffler has stayed in Trump’s good graces. She helped raise millions of dollars for the president-elect’s 2024 campaign and hosted a debate night for him over the summer, attended by other MAGA World stars.

She was back in the news a few days ago, publicly support former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), her former critic, as attorney general before withdrawing from consideration.

She also co-chairs Trump’s Second Constituent Committee.