Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) announced on Feb. 5 that she is running for reelection to Congress, after initially saying in 2023 that she didn’t plan to seek another term representing Indiana’s Fifth Congressional District.
Ms. Spartz said that the United States is in dire times and that requires her to be in office. She also blasted the leadership in Congress. She said that she wouldn’t be able to get results if she were to retire, given the dysfunction in the current Congress.
“As someone who grew up under tyranny, I understand the significance of these challenging times for our republic, and if my fellow Hoosiers and God decide, I will be honored to continue fighting for them,” said Ms. Spartz, who is the first Ukrainian American to serve in Congress. “We must carry on the sacrifice of countless Americans for our liberties and keep the American dream alive for our children.”
Ms. Spartz previously said she wouldn’t seek reelection if Congress didn’t create a bipartisan commission to deal with the tens of trillions of dollars of debt the United States faces.
“I’ve done many very difficult things being one woman standing many times with many very long hours and personal sacrifices, but there is a limitation to human capacity,” she said in an Oct. 2 statement.
“If Congress does not pass a debt commission this year to move the needle on the crushing national debt and inflation, at least at the next debt ceiling increase at the end of 2024, I will not continue sacrificing my children for this circus with a complete absence of leadership, vision, and spine,” she said. “I cannot save this republic alone.”
Additionally, Ms. Spartz, who was first elected in 2020, sparred with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and called him a “weak speaker.”
In September 2023, she blasted Mr. McCarthy, who resigned from Congress at the end of last year, for not dealing with the United States’ fiscal situation.
“Unfortunately, real leadership takes courage and willingness to fight for the country, not for power and a picture on a wall,” she said in a statement.
“The Republican House is failing the American people again and pursuing a path of gamesmanship and circus,” she continued. “Neither Republicans nor Democrats have the backbone to challenge the corrupt swamp that is bankrupting our children and grandchildren.”
She blasted the GOP for not accomplishing anything, as she said, since taking the majority in the lower congressional chamber in January 2023.
Mr. McCarthy responded, “[If Ms. Spartz] is concerned about fighting stronger, I wish she would’ve run again and not quit.”
Indiana’s Fifth Congressional District includes the suburbs north of the state’s capital, Indianapolis.
“Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented actions last Congress to remove Reps. Greene and Gosar from their committees without proper due process,” Ms. Spartz said in a statement. “Speaker McCarthy is taking unprecedented actions this Congress to deny some committee assignments to the minority without proper due process again.”
During the 117th Congress, between 2021 and 2023, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was ousted from her committee assignments over making incendiary remarks before she entered Congress in 2021, and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) was kicked off his after posting an anime video showing Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), violently defeated.
Ms. Spartz said that “two wrongs do not make a right.”
Ultimately, Ms. Omar was booted from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a House floor vote in which Ms. Spartz voted “yes.”
