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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowState Sen. Victoria Spartz has won the Republican primary in Indiana’s 5th Congressional District, the Associated Press has declared.
With 56% of precincts reporting, Spartz led with 39% of the vote. Her next closest opponent—of 14 others running in the race—was Beth Henderson who captured 19% of the vote.
“I would like to thank the great people of Indiana’s 5th Congressional District for placing their trust in me to be their nominee for Congress,” Spartz said in a statement. “I also want to thank my family and supporters who spent countless hours helping me. My candidacy, and tonight’s victory, also prove that the American Dream is alive and well, and voters want a representative who will defend it.”
The AP has also declared Christina Hale the winner in the 5th District’s Democratic primary. Hale, a former state lawmaker and candidate for lieutenant governor, had 40% of the vote with 59% of precincts reporting. She defeated four other candidates, including Dee Thornton, the Democratic nominee two years ago.
“The divide America is feeling and the global health crisis we are experiencing around the world underscore how important elected leadership is to our nation and to this district,” Hale said in a statement on Tuesday night. “Our community is facing unprecedented challenges, and I’m committed to taking action on the issues most critical to families across the 5th District.”
Spartz and Hale will face off in the fall in a battle to replace Republican Rep. Susan Brooks, who decided not to see reelection after representing the district since 2013. The district includes all of Hamilton, Madison, Grant and Tipton counties and parts of four others, including northern Marion County.
About 70% of the district’s voters from Hamilton and Marion counties.
The district has long been considered a GOP stronghold. But Democrats have said that changing demographics and attitudes among suburban voters make it a seat they could win. The race is expected to get national attention through the fall.
On Tuesday night, Indiana Republican Chairman Kyle Hupfer urged the GOP to rally around Spartz, despite the competitive primary.
“We all need to join with Victoria Spartz and ensure this seat stays red in November,” he said. “Holding the 5th will be crucial to flipping the House and kicking Nancy Pelosi out of the speaker’s chair.”
In the GOP race, tensions grew high as Spartz dumped $750,000 into her campaign, investing in TV commercials and airtime. Club for Growth also backed her efforts and spent more than $460,000 attacking other candidates for not being loyal to President Donald Trump.
Those attacks specifically went after Henderson and former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, but both candidates fought back with their own ads and social media posts.
Earlier Tuesday night—before even the first Marion County vote had been reported—the Club for Growth’s president, former Indiana congressman David McIntosh, issued a statement congratulating her.
“Victoria Spartz knows first-hand just how dangerous socialism is from her youth growing up in Soviet Ukraine, we congratulate her on her victory, and look forward to supporting her in the general election,” McIntosh said in the statement. “As a fellow Hoosier I am proud of her principled, free-market positions she will take to Washington.”
Spartz also faced questions about her business experience and her personal finances, including whether she had enough wealth to loan her campaign so much money.
According to a financial disclosure form with the U.S. House, Spartz has assets totaling $8.5 million to $38 million. The assets include real estate, IRAs and income from farming.
The coronavirus pandemic greatly impacted the campaign season, with in-person events, including fundraisers and meet-and-greet opportunities, coming to a halt in mid-March for most candidates.
In-person debates were also canceled, but candidates did participate in several virtual forums.
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Go Beth!!!
I am so proud of Victoria Spartz. She has such a positive and uplifting personal story of success and hard work. Now she wants to give her time to help the Nation. She understands socialism and will try to prevent this great country from taking that scary and dangerous path. She is an incredible person.
Yes, we should stop America of going down the path of having a president who thinks he is above the law. And we should vote out anyone associated with the party complicit with that president. They all must go.
Anyone that supports Trump is a bozo. He’s totally destroyed the U.S. and divided the nation with his lies, corruption, racism and violent behavior. Trump is a disgrace.
Delusional much? Before the pandemic, unemployment was at a 40 year low, and lowest ever for Blacks and Hispanics. The market, was at a record high. And, despite across the board tax cuts, Q1 and Q2 were both records for tax revenue.
Obama created more jobs his last 3 years than Trump his 1st 3 years. The stock market increased as a % more in Obama’s last 3 yrs than Trump 1st 3 years. Obama inherited Bush’s Great Recession while Trump inherited a thriving economy. Annual deficit was over 1 Trillion when Obama took office and he reduced it to 1/2 trillion. Trump increased it to over a trillion. This was all before Trump screwed up COVID-19. Trump is a horrible person. I used to be a Republican.
The economy still hasn’t recovered from 2008 for a large chunk of the populace. People might have had jobs but wages still lag and the benefits from many of those jobs are so poor that health care costs fall on all taxpayers. Tax revenue may be higher but our deficit is through the roof – the exact opposite of what we should have been doing.
The sooner the GOP is routed from power, the sooner it can be reborn. But everyone still associated with the party nowadays should be shamed out of politics for good. Every month is a new low while people just hang on to power. Tear gassing peaceful protesters for a photo op outside a church? What more will it take for people to wake up?
The GOP is socialism for the rich.
If Trump is a great president why does he lie so much. He’s a malignant narcissistic. He’s not a leader.
Mark, get real. What few jobs Obama created were largely government jobs created by his insatiable ego to expand government, not productive jobs that contribute to the GDP.
And Obama damn near tripled the Federal Deficit while in office despite his claim that it was criminal to do so. What do you smoke to come up with such nonsense as you post?
You’re right about some of the government jobs Obama created. It was the pandemic team that Trump disbanded plus the CDC jobs in China that Trump eliminated. Liar Fat orange Trump who holds a bible upside down and backwards is responsible for 40 million workers out of jobs.
Trump is a buffoon who divides snd can’t lead. Trump totally blew the pandemic and over 100,000 have died. The US has approximately 4% of the world population and almost 30% of the deaths.
The Trump/GOP rallying cry of preventing socialism is completely dishonest (big surprise). Joe Biden and 99% of Democrats are not socialists – even Bernie Sanders is not a socialist as that term has always been defined (“someone who supports government ownership of the economy”), so Victoria Spartz’ familiarity with socialism in the Ukraine has absolutely no relevance to American politics (although the fact that she thinks it does may explain her radical right-wing views). In fact, Donald Trump’s totalitarian impulses makes him far closer to being a socialist (a “Nationalist Socialist” in the fascist tradition) than Joe Biden.
Looking forward to Congresswoman Spartz’s long tenure representing Indiana. Curious what the dem’s excuses for Presidential and Congressional losses will be this time around.
Congratulations to Victoria Sparks! Where do we send contributions to her campaign?
And the Dems resurrecting Christina Hale smells mysteriously like their resurrecting Evan Bayh to try to defeat Mike Barun.