ATLANTA — Multiple reports claim that 9th District Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins is expected to challenge newly-appointed U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler for her seat in the upcoming fall election cycle.
Loeffler was appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to the seat, which was vacated at the end of 2019 by the now-retired Sen. Johnny Isakson.
The special election is an all-comers race in November with the top-two vote-getters headed for a January runoff if no one receives more than 50 percent of the vote. Ultimately, the winner of the seat would complete Isakson's term and have to stand for re-election once again in 2022.
Before Kemp announced his choice for the seat, President Donald Trump weighed in, strongly suggesting that he preferred that governor select Collins as Isakson's replacement for the seat.
This, coming after Collins had created a large impression on the national audience as the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and acting as the president's "pit bull" during the impeachment hearings, defending Trump, time and time again.
Prior to the start of the ongoing Senate Impeachment Trial, Collins was selected as one of Trump's House Republican floor managers given the task of representing the president in the upper chamber's proceedings.
A number of right-wing supporters of the president also supported Collins when it came to Kemp's selection, many of them noting that Loeffler had never held public office, while Collins is a four-term incumbent.
Prior to his election to the U.S. House, Collins served three terms in the Georgia House of Representatives representing Gainesville.
Loeffler is a businesswoman and co-owner of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream. She is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, the parent firm of the New York Stock Exchange.
Television commercials for Loeffler's re-election bid have already started to appear in the Atlanta market, while at least three other candidates have announced bids for the seat -- most notably Matt Lieberman, son of former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman.
Other political notables have been suggested in terms of thinking about the seat, though no one else has stepped forward, yet.
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