Kelly Loeffler should be the poster child for the worst type of politician.
Georgia's junior Senator is up for election in Georgia's special election on January 5th. I would say re-election, but Loeffler has never run for elected office in her life.
She was appointed by Georgia governor Brian Kemp last year after Senator Johnny Isakson resigned. Her qualifications? Being rich, I guess. Loeffler is an uber-wealthy finance executive and Republican mega-donor, which led to predictable accusations that she was trying to buy a Senate seat.
Kelly Loeffler has made a career out of making money at the expense of average people. While millions of people lost their homes and jobs in the Great Recession, she helped her company set up an offshore tax haven to protect trades of credit default swaps (which played a major role in the crash of the housing market). Not content to make money off of the very product causing average Americans to suffer, evidently, Loeffler's company, International Exchange, then they made sure they didn't have to pay taxes on those profits.
Nor has her performance in the Senate disproven the charge that Loeffler's trying to help anyone but herself. After receiving private briefings on the dangers of the coronavirus, Loeffler dumped millions of dollars in stock while downplaying the virus to the public. While the American people were left in the dark on the virus and officials shrugged off the danger, she invested in telenetworking software.
She's everything people claim to hate but politics: self-serving, disconnected from the people she serves, more than willing to hurt her constituents if she can benefit in the process.
While Donald Trump's election in 2016 can be chalked up to many factors (racism, dislike of Hillary Clinton, genuine economic anxiety), his claim that Americans needed to "drain the swamp" of Washington doubtlessly spoke to people. And while Donald Trump has done nothing to actually combat that, he was right that it's a problem.
A problem that Kelly Loeffler, whose money and influence was able to get her a Senate seat regardless of the wishes of the people of Georgia, is the very embodiment of.
Compare that to her opponent, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia native who grew up in public housing and rose to prominence in the state as an advocate for expanding Medicaid. There's no question as to who is part of the 'swamp' and who isn't.
When January 5th rolls around, I hope the same wave that pushed Joe Biden to victory in Georgia will reject a woman who's only qualification to hold office is her history of donating to Republican candidates. It would be great to see the swamp get drained, if only one self-serving politician at a time.
