Victoria Spartz

Victoria Spartz ( Kulheyko; Вікторія Кульгейко; born October 6, 1978) is a Ukrainian-American politician and businesswoman who is the U.S. representative for IN's 5th congressional district.

A member of the Republican Party, she previously represented the 20th district in the Indiana Senate.

Victoria Kulheyko was born in Nosivka, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union.

Before moving to the U.S., she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from Kyiv National Economic University.

This was the closest race in the district since it was reconfigured as a northern suburban district in 1983 (it had been numbered the 6th until 2003), and only the second time in that period that a Democrat had received at least 40% of the vote.

Spartz prevailed by winning her home county of Hamilton, the most populous county entirely within the district, by 20,100 votes, more than her district-wide margin of just under 17,000 votes.

She ran just behind Trump, who won the district with 50.1% of the vote.

The 2021 Indiana redistricting rendered the 5th significantly more Republican than its predecessor.

Notably, the district lost its share of Indianapolis.

To make up for the loss in population, the 5th was pushed to the east to take in Muncie and Anderson, previously in the 6th district.

After running unopposed in the primary, Spartz defeated Democratic nominee Jeanine Lee Lake in the general election.

In late 2023, after Senator Mike Braun declared his candidacy for Governor of Indiana, there were rumors that Spartz might run for the U.S. Senate to replace him.

However, on February 3, 2023, she announced that she would not run for reelection or for any other office in 2024.

In early December 2023 she walked back her retirement announcement, writing in an email to IndyStar that "colleagues and constituents want me to run again" and there is "a better Speaker" leading the House, which would require her "to reconsider."

She confirmed her intent to run for re-election on February 5, 2024, five days before the filing deadline.

Spartz is the first Ukrainian-born female member of Congress and the first member born in a former Soviet Republic.

Members of Congress who were born in what later formed part of the Soviet Union include Meyer London, Samuel Dickstein, Herman Kopplemann, and Herman Toll.

Spartz immigrated to the United States in 2000 at the age of 22 and became a U.S. citizen in 2006.

She earned a Master of Accountancy from the Kelley School of Business of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis.

Spartz held a certified public accountant license from 2010 to 2021 and a real estate broker license from 2003 to 2020, both from the State of Indiana.

Spartz was a founding member of the Hamilton County, Indiana Tea Party.

She served as CFO in the Indiana Attorney General's office before her appointment to the Indiana Senate.

She was also an adjunct faculty member at the Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis and has owned real estate and farming businesses.

She voted for McCarthy on the first three ballots and on the 12th through 15th ballots.

After McCarthy became speaker, she was critical of his speakership.

She voted against tabling a resolution that would remove McCarthy from his position as Speaker, but ultimately voted against his removal on October 3, 2023.

In the first ballot on the vote for a new speaker, Spartz refused to vote for the party nominee, this time Jim Jordan, instead casting a vote for Thomas Massie.

She did vote for the party nominee in all subsequent ballots.

In 2017, Spartz was appointed to the Indiana Senate from the 20th district after Luke Kenley resigned.

After incumbent Republican Susan Brooks announced in June 2019 that she would not seek reelection, Spartz announced her candidacy for Indiana's 5th congressional district.

She won the Republican primary on June 2, 2020.

The Cook Political Report rated the race a toss-up.

Spartz won the November general election, defeating former state representative Christina Hale, the Democratic nominee, by four percent.

In late 2020, Spartz was identified as a participant in the Freedom Force, a group of incoming Republican members of the House of Representatives who "say they're fighting against socialism in America".

Spartz's tenure has been marked by high staff turnover.

Congressional watchdog Legistorm measured her turnover in 2021 at three and half times the average of offices of House members, the highest turnover for a non-retiring member.

In May 2022, Politico reported on a toxic environment within her office, with Spartz's temper quickly jumping from tepid to boiling, and reported that "aides who have left after a couple of months did so because the work environment became untenable."

Examples of the office environment included Spartz ordering staff to record her direction to staff and later denying the previously expressed instructions, despite the recordings.

One former aide said, "the common theme: Staffers do their job, and then Victoria comes in saying that they have no idea what they’re doing, that they are 'morons,' calling them 'idiots.'" Spartz responded that her working style is "not for everyone" and that her critics "need to 'toughen up'".

In January 2023, during the 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election, Spartz declined to vote for party nominee Kevin McCarthy on ballots four through 11, instead voting "present".