NEW: After Super PAC Launches Ad Blitz Against Loeffler, Collins Gets First Statewide Endorsement

Collins gains new allies and outside group backers against Loeffler’s millions as GOP internal fight becomes “pure misery for Georgia Republicans”

ATLANTA — Unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler is facing growing intraparty problems today as her opponent, top Trump ally Congressman Doug Collins, received his first statewide endorsement after a major pro-Trump super PAC began its “seven figure” ad campaign to unseat Loeffler.

Loeffler’s struggling campaign has already seen multiple other GOP lawmakers “breaking ranks” to support her opponent while outside groups continue to jump into Georgia Republicans’ “needlessly destructive” intraparty fight. In addition to a Trump-backing super PAC joining the fray, a dark money group promising to “anonymously bring down Kelly Loeffler” recently announced “plans for a larger and more aggressive media operation.”

Now, as Loeffler struggles to overcome the damage from her stock trading scandal that became a “lesson in how not to manage a crisis,” her campaign is also ready to turn up the heat in this “expensive and embittering” intraparty brawl. Last week, a report revealed that a notable Kemp ally filed multiple ethics complaints against Collins as their feud entered “a new chapter” — and one that so far appears to be nothing but “pure misery for Georgia Republicans.”

Read the latest coverage on Loeffler’s growing intraparty problems:

AJC: Georgia Senate: Bubba McDonald backs Collins over Loeffler

• Public Service Commissioner Bubba McDonald took sides in Georgia’s hotly competitive U.S. Senate race on Wednesday, backing U.S. Rep. Doug Collins over incumbent Kelly Loeffler.

• He’s the first statewide elected official to break ranks with Gov. Brian Kemp, who tapped Loeffler in December.

• Loeffler’s facing new headwinds as she tries to settle questions about stock transactions during the coronavirus pandemic that led her to announce she would no longer invest in stocks in individual companies.

Fox News: PAC planning to spend $1M-plus supporting Collins releases ad attacking Loeffler on stock trades

• A super PAC that says it plans to spend seven figures supporting Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., in his effort to unseat Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., in a special election this fall released an ad Tuesday attacking Loeffler for alleged insider trading based on information about the coronavirus threat she got through her job as a senator.

• The ad, commissioned by the Trump-backing Great America PAC and first obtained by Fox News, is based on reports Loeffler sold up to $3.1 million in stocks ahead of the market collapse caused by the coronavirus, which would be illegal if she did so based on knowledge acquired from her work.

• The ad, however, says that “Loeffler attended a private Senate briefing on the coronavirus threat. That same day, Loeffler and her husband, who runs the New York Stock Exchange, began selling millions in personal stock before the market dropped.” It also notes another sale of travel stocks that occurred before Trump banned travel from Europe.

• The group says it plans to release the ad digitally in Georgia in the next few weeks before buying TV spots for the ad as well.

###