ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., is fighting back against attacks from political opponents with three TV ads touting generous acts she has undertaken to help in the battle against coronavirus.
A $4 million ad campaign launched Monday labels as “liberal lies” and a “witch hunt” allegations the wealthy Atlanta businesswoman bought and sold millions of dollars in stocks shortly after a Jan. 24 closed-door briefing she and other senators attended on the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.
Loeffler announced last month she planned to put an end to the distraction by liquidating her family’s holdings in stocks in individual companies and moving those investments into exchange-traded funds and mutual funds.
The 30-second ads point to Loeffler’s decision to donate her Senate salary to the fight against coronavirus, her contribution of $1 million to the nonprofit foundation run by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, which the pandemic hit particularly hard, and her role in launching an online portal to help families get the assistance they need.
“While the left, media and her opponents play politics … she has worked around the clock to deliver relief to those impacted by COVID-19,” Loeffler campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson said. “Kelly will not be distracted by their false attacks.”
Loeffler, appointed last December by Gov. Brian Kemp, to succeed retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson, will have to overcome a lengthy list of challengers in November if she is to retain the seat and finish out Isakson’s six-year term.
More than 20 candidates from both parties will be on the ballot Nov. 3 in a “free-for-all” election likely to require a runoff. The challengers include Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Gainesville and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, pastor at Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.