New senator visits

“It sounds like us in Washington could learn a few things from how you all are managing your business down here across counties, putting yourselves aside for the greater good, and I can’t wait to what’s going on out here at Stanton Springs,” Loeffler said.

“I know it’s a model for regional economic development.”

Before Gov. Brian Kemp nominated her to fill the remainder of Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term, Loeffler was the CEO of Bakkt, a company that builds trading infrastructure for cryptocurrency. Before that she worked for financial market operator Intercontinental Exchange, Bakkt’s parent company.

“When I joined, we had 100 employees. We ended up becoming a Fortune 500 company in 15 years,” Loeffler said.

“And just seeing the opportunities that created for our employees and their families ... I’m always going to be an advocate for economic development that lifts Americans up.”

She gave an update on her first five weeks at the nation’s capital.

“The first two and half weeks we were there, we had the impeachment proceedings. Those are past and now it’s time to get down and work for the American people,” she said.

Loeffler sits on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. She said her work there didn’t start out as she’d thought it might.

“We’re dealing with the coronavirus and monitoring that very closely.”

She’s on the Veterans Affairs Committee too, where she said she was working on Isakson’s MISSION Act, which aims to revamp how veterans get health care.

Loeffler also said growing on a farm in Illinois has informed her work on the Agriculture Committee.

“I know how central agriculture, farmers and rural communities are for America. And I’m going to fight very hard to make sure that our rural communities in Georgia are brought along with our economic development,” she said.

Loeffler addressed the challenges of moving from the private sector into government work after her remarks.

“In the private sector, it’s easy to specialize in a given area, and now we’re dealing with things ranging from terrorism to a world health issue all the way to trade wars and others issues, so I think just making sure that we’re managing this with the needs of the American people in mind across all issues is critical,” she said.

Hice, when asked, said the event was not an endorsement of Loeffler’s candidacy in November’s election, where she’ll face Rep. Doug Collins, a Gainesville Republican.

“I’m not taking sides publicly. We’ve got two great candidates and the people of Georgia will work that out,” Hice said.