GOP senator who posed in hunting gear in ad doesn't have a hunting license

On Feb. 8, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) posted a short video ad of herself in a camo vest with a hunting rifle, walking with a companion down a dirt road on what appears to be a hunting trip.

There is no narrator in the video, but the words “Pro 2nd Amendment Conservative” flash across the screen as Loeffler poses in her hunting gear.

However, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Monday that Loeffler does not have a Georgia hunting license, according to an Open Records Act request the paper received from American Bridge, a progressive opposition research organization working to unseat the candidate.

Hunting without a license in Georgia is a misdemeanor crime punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, a game warden with the Law Enforcement Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said in a Monday phone call.

A basic hunting license in Georgia costs $15.

Loeffler, who was appointed to the Senate after Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson retired, is facing a tough election race in November. In late January, Rep. Doug Collins, a conservative Trump loyalist, declared he would join the race, roiling many Republicans who support Loeffler.

Collins is “everything Georgians hate about Washington,” Kevin McLaughlin, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement. McLaughlin added that Collins is “a swamp creature” who made “an emotional, ill-informed, and selfish decision” to run for Senate.

On the Democratic side, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Matt Lieberman, son of former Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), are vying for the seat. Lieberman entered the race in late 2019, but Warnock has received the endorsement of Stacey Abrams, the popular Democrat who narrowly lost her 2018 gubernatorial bid, as well as the approval of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Loeffler committed to putting $20 million of her own money into the race. In late 2019, she loaned her campaign $5 million, charging her campaign 2.4% interest. By the time the campaign is over, Loeffler stands to make more than $120,000 in interest from her own Senate campaign, which is over twice what the median Georgia household earns in a year.

Since this race is a special election, there will be no primary. Instead, all candidates will appear on the November ballot and a runoff election will take place in early January 2021 if no candidate receives a majority in November.

Georgia’s other senator, Republican David Perdue, is also up for reelection in November.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.