Georgia Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler is pulling ahead of the multiparty, free-for-all primary field jostling for her Washington, D.C., seat in a special election.
Loeffler has 26% support compared to her closest rivals, Rep. Doug Collins, a Republican, and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, who each have 17% support, according to a SurveyUSA poll released Tuesday.
It’s the second study in as many weeks that has the incumbent, who was appointed to replace former Sen. Johnny Isakson in January, leading the race’s 20 candidates. If no contender earns 50% of the vote on Nov. 3, the two candidates with the most support will vie against one another in a runoff election on Jan. 5.
Loeffler, boosted by the Republican establishment, had long trailed Collins, weighed down by now-dismissed allegations of insider trading after she and her husband dumped $20 million worth of stock after a closed-door Senate coronavirus briefing. The Justice Department has closed its investigations into the matter.
While touting her work in Congress, particularly against Big Tech, her momentum follows her stance against WNBA players taking part in Black Lives Matter protests on their respective courts. Loeffler, a wealthy businesswoman married to New York Stock Exchange owner and chairman Jeffrey Sprecher, is a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream WNBA team.
Tuesday’s poll also shows GOP Sen. David Perdue in front of his Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, 44% to 41%, in the regularly scheduled Senate race. That means the pair is statistically tied.
At the top of the ticket, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leads President Trump, 46% to 44%, for Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, again a statistical tie.
SurveyUSA polled 623 likely Georgia voters online from Aug. 6-8. The firm’s findings have a margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.
