The first and only member of Congress born in Ukraine has voted both for and against aid to her native country. She’s also announced her retirement and filed for re-election.
Now Rep. Victoria Spartz — the only Indiana House member in danger of losing in Tuesday’s primaries — is talking to fellow Republicans one-on-one and in TV commercials, working to blunt the criticism of rivals.
“To Spartz, words don’t matter. She’s retiring one day, running the next. Sends $40 billion to Ukraine, then criticizes the aid,” says an ad for rival Chuck Goodrich, who has outspent Spartz on the air, according to television and digital advertising data compiled by AdImpact.
Whether spots like that resonate in the solidly GOP district is one of the major questions heading into Tuesday’s primaries, when Indiana Republicans also will decide whether they want to see ex-House members Marlin Stutzman and John Hostettler back on Capitol Hill, and whether they want US Sen. Mike Braun to move to the governorship.
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At the Hamilton County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner on May 2, her district’s largest such gathering of GOP activists, Spartz was among the last of the 820 attendees to leave the hotel ballroom as attendees used the opportunity to ask private questions.
In the official part of the program, Spartz was given five minutes and didn’t address the votes on helping her native country defend itself against the Russian military.
In 2022, she supported a $40 billion US aid package (Public Law 117-128) backed by House Democrats and 72% of House Republicans. Last month, when the House debated a foreign aid package, Spartz introduced an amendment that would have cut several Ukraine aid provisions.
Spartz also was among the 71 Republicans who voted for an amendment by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that would have zeroed out Ukraine aid. Goodrich suggested Spartz voted against the aid on final passage only after there were enough GOP votes to advance it.
In an interview, Spartz said she’s always held the position there should be “no blank check” for Ukraine and that aid should include oversight.
She said she’s been pursing a “righteous fight” for her constituents by holding leaders in Congress accountable, including those in her own party. “I fight some battles and am willing to challenge the establishment of both parties, which is very difficult to do,” Spartz said.
The Unretirement
Spartz could win renomination with less than a majority of the vote because there are nine names on the ballot and Indiana doesn’t have runoff primaries. Even so, interviews with her fellow Republicans show that she’ll have some fence-mending to work on.
“I appreciated Victoria Spartz’s conservative values and her votes in Congress. I just was a little disappointed in the way that she more than a year out said she wasn’t going to run and then came back 12, 15 months later and jumped back in,” said Russ Willis, the chair of the Madison County Republican Party in Anderson, Indiana.
“I don’t think it’s fair to the candidates who had already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in their campaigns, and I really don’t think it’s fair to the residents of the county,” Willis said.
While the party’s presumptive presidential nominee has endorsed in other Republican primaries — even knocking a frontrunner out of contention by backing a rival in a runoff — Donald Trump so far hasn’t said whether he favors Spartz or one of her challengers.
A Spartz ad on illegal immigration pictures her with Trump and shows Spartz saying she’ll “keep standing with President Trump and put America First.” A Goodrich spot refers to him as a “pro-Trump, America First conservative.”
Goodrich, a three-term state representative and an electrical contracting company CEO, has been the most aggressive of the Spartz opponents, loaning the campaign $4.6 million to finance a barrage of television ads and mailers that portray Spartz as indecisive.
Goodrich both criticizes Spartz and touts his business background and his votes in the legislature against abortion and for Indiana’s concealed-carry handgun law. He said money for Ukraine should be used instead to bolster US border security.
He’s one of the candidates who got into the race expecting to run for an open seat. In an interview, he said Spartz misled him and constituents by first saying in February 2023 she would retire and then reversing herself the following February, just before the candidate filing deadline.
Goodrich’s backers include Americans for Prosperity Action, a Charles Koch-backed group that supported Nikki Haley over Trump during the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, and the Associated Builders and Contractors, which Goodrich formerly led. Spartz has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List’s PAC.
McCarthy Expat
Spartz and Goodrich have overwhelmed other Republican candidates in the 5th District, which includes rural areas and some mid-sized cities like Anderson, where General Motors Corp. was a dominant employer, and Muncie, home of Ball State University.
Among the other hopefuls is first-time candidate Max Engling, who grew up in the district and recently returned home after working on Capitol Hill, first for the House Administration Committee and for then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
“I don’t have a learning curve on hitting the ground running immediately,” Engling said in an interview. “And I think that’s really important when we look at these huge issues we have to face right now.”
Asked for differences between him and the top two contenders, Engling said Goodrich would have to learn his way in Congress and that Spartz has a “me against the world” approach that’s “not how you get the work accomplished in Washington.”
Engling raised about $204,000 through April 17 — some from House Republicans including Reps. Brad Wenstrup (Ohio), Brandon Williams (N.Y.), and Russ Fulcher (Idaho), who all donated after Spartz re-entered the race in February. Willis, the Anderson County GOP head, also is supporting Engling.
Aided by at least $600,000 in self-funding since April 25, Spartz ramped up her campaign advertising in the waning days of the primary.
Three different Spartz ads appeared on Indianapolis TV on the first two days of May, including one that accuses “China Chuck” Goodrich of being soft on that nation. Goodrich responded by saying Spartz is lying about his voting record.
Another Spartz spot in heavy rotation features praise from her two teenage daughters, with Spartz, the only woman among the nine GOP candidates getting the last word, saying their support is “the best endorsement a mom could ask for.”
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Elsewhere in Indiana, three House districts have competitive primaries, including the ones where Stutzman is seeking to succeed Senate candidate Jim Banks (R) in the northeastern 3rd District and Hostettler is trying to follow retiring seven-term Rep. Larry Bucshon (R) in the southwestern 8th District. Seven Republicans are in the chase in the east-central 6th District of retiring Rep. Greg Pence (R).
“If you’re a Republican and you ever thought about running for Congress, this is your year,” said Chad Kinsella, a political scientist at Ball State University.
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