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    • After Indiana primary, U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartaz eyes third term
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    After Indiana primary, U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartaz eyes third term

    Pabio Posted on

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    Many potential political hurdles have been overcome US Representative Victoria Spartazthe path to 2024.

    In the last ten months alone, the two-term MP reversed its 2023 decision to avoid running for re-election, I jumped into an already busy Republican primary for the 5th Congressional District where local leaders have publicly supported its opponents and still won a significant victory in the May elections despite an avalanche of attack ads and millions of dollars spent against it.

    Then this summer, national Politico news outlet reported The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Spartz’s alleged mistreatment of his congressional staff and she was charged with weapons violations after TSA staff found an unloaded gun in his carry-on bag, charges that were later abandoned.

    But despite all this and although Spartz has three challengers in the general election Democrat Deborah Pickett, Lauri Shillings, libertarian and independent candidate Robby Slaughterthe Republican congresswoman is favored to win her third term on Election Day. The Cook Political Report ranked Indiana’s 5th District as solid Republicanwhich the election analysis group calls races “not considered competitive and unlikely to be closely contested.”

    It’s a sign of today’s political times, where increased polarization makes it more normal for one party’s voters to stay in their respective corners, even when a candidate is the subject of controversy or a divisive primary, declared Chad Kinsellaassociate professor of political science at Ball State University.

    “Despite this kind of family feud, if you will, in districts between Republicans, ultimately people will come back to the party,” Kinsella said.

    Pickett, Shillings and Slaughter, in interviews and in campaign materials, say they are running to provide options for voters in the 5th District, which stretches from northern Hamilton County through Howard and Grant counties . But the layout of the district itself, lack of awareness and low fundraising numbers make it difficult for Spartz’s opponents to gain traction. Neighborhood boundaries were also redrawn after Spartaz’s narrow victory in 2020 to better position the Republicans.

    The congresswoman attributes the success of this difficult year to her connections with regular voters and residents of the district.

    “It’s a very great honor that people have confidence in me and know that I’m going to fight for them to keep their promises,” Spartz said in an interview with IndyStar. “And don’t be afraid to challenge the machine of money and control that is actually becoming more and more powerful and destructive to our country.”

    Spartz eyes third term after GOP primaries

    Spartan, who was born in Ukraine and served three years in the Indiana State Senate, was elected to represent the 5th congressional district in 2020 following the retirement of former Republican U.S. Representative Susan Brooks. She won a 15-person Republican primary then defeated Democrat Christina Hale in that year’s general election by 4 percentage points.

    Spartaz received the attention of Congress for often viral comments during congressional hearings and sometimes clashing with members of his own party. Before former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is ousted from office in 2023, the two exchanged back and forth about the impending government shutdown at the time.

    Spartz originally announced in early 2023 that she would not seek a third term representing the 5th District, a move that came shortly after she considered running for Indiana’s open U.S. Senate seat. She canceled this choice in February when she sought re-election, despite the presence of eight other Republican opponents.

    From February: U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartaz announces she is running for re-election in the 5th District

    However, the primary was mainly a competition between Spartaz and State Rep. Chuck GoodrichR-Noblesville, who gave his campaign more than $4 million. Spartz won the primary election by 6 percentage points and carried every county in the district except Delaware County, where she trailed Goodrich by less than a percentage point.

    It was a significant victory for Spartaz, especially since at least three mayors of the 5th arrondissement have publicly supported Goodrichthe countryside. In a sign of how complicated the primary was for Spartz, most of her opponents’ supporters never publicly rallied behind her afterward, despite her being the party’s chosen candidate.

    Six months after the primary, Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen, who was among Goodrich’s supporters, said he is now no longer focused on the 5th District elections, but on local races that will impact his community.

    “We as local elected officials want to get things done, so we want to support those who want to get things done,” Jensen said. “That’s where you see us helping with the Statehouse races, in particular. Those are extremely important.”

    Spartz must first make it through the general election, but she has a comfort level in her own race in 2024 that has allowed her to travel to Michigan and New York to help other campaigns, she said, including a recent stop in the Detroit area for Republican U.S. Rep. John James seeks re-election.

    She told IndyStar that some of her priorities for her third term in Congress include strengthening the economy, increasing border security and promoting better foreign policy. She also continues to push for a congressional commission to study the national debt.

    “These debt levels are becoming destructive for our country and for the economy,” Spartaz said. “For all the causes we want to spend money on, we just won’t have the money.”

    Indiana Voter’s Guide Who is running for Congress, Statehouse, Governor, AG and School Board

    Spartz’s opponents

    Pickett won the 5th District Democratic primary in May. She previously served as a noncommissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, where she was a behavioral scientist.

    Pickett’s past roles include working at Hudson Institutethe political think tank that former governor Mitch Daniels once led. She said she had previously voted for Republicans until she began drifting away from the party around the time of Roe v. Wade was canceled.

    In an interview with IndyStar, Pickett said she focused her campaign on protecting democracy, restoring women’s reproductive rights and working to make Congress a more productive place. The Democrat knows she faces challenges, but she’s focused on connecting with voters.

    “It was really about getting out there and really talking to people and being where they are and hearing about their issues and talking to them,” Pickett said. “I will tell people that I was a Republican at one time, and I believed in the concept of intelligence and government, and I believed in small, effective, efficient government.”

    Shillings, the Libertarian candidate, is the president of Libertarian Party of Hamilton County and creative director at the University of Indianapolis. On her campaign websiteShillings said she believed in “accountable government, modern education and accessible health care.”

    Slaughter, the independent, met the signature threshold to get onto the general election ballot this summer. Slaughter previously led a national speakers bureau, according to his campaign website, and said he was running for Congress because of the public’s lack of trust in elected leaders.

    Election Day is November 5, but early voting has already started. To learn more about candidate priorities, visit Spartan‘s, Pickett‘s, Shillings‘ And Slaughterthe websites of.

    Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at [email protected] or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.

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