Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz will win her hard-fought Republican primary for her 5th District seat based in the northeastern Indianapolis suburbs Tuesday, CNN projects.
Spartz, who in 2023 said she would not seek reelection, reversed her decision just before February’s filing deadline. She faced eight challengers, included state Rep. Chuck Goodrich, a businessman who had announced his campaign a month earlier and outspent Spartz.
The Ukrainian-born Spartz was an early advocate for US support for the country against Russia’s unprovoked invasion. But last month, she voted against a $95 billion foreign aid package that included $61 billion in backing for Ukraine. She cast that vote as Goodrich aired television ads accusing Spartz of putting “Ukraine first.”
Spartz’s campaign, meanwhile, aired TV ads claiming Goodrich “puts China first to get rich.” The ad claims Goodrich voted to allow Chinese companies to buy Indiana farmland. Goodrich actually voted in favor of a measure banning such purchases, which passed on near-unanimous votes this year. The measure allows companies to renew leases made before July 1, 2024, which Spartz’s campaign told The Indianapolis Star is a “loophole.”
Spartz first won the 5th District seat in 2020, when Democratic gains in suburbs made it a battleground. But the redistricting process, controlled by Indiana’s Republican-dominated state legislature, turned the seat into safe GOP territory.