Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., won’t be returning to Congress after her current term ends.
Spartz announced her decision to retire from the U.S. House of Representatives Friday afternoon. The two-term congresswoman also passed on running for Indiana’s open Senate seat.
Per The Hill:
“It’s been my honor representing Hoosiers in the Indiana State Senate and U.S. Congress and I appreciate the strong support on the ground. 2024 will mark seven years of holding elected office and over a decade in Republican politics,” Spartz, 44, said in a statement.
“I won a lot of tough battles for the people and will work hard to win a few more in the next two years. However, being a working mom is tough and I need to spend more time with my two high school girls back home, so I will not run for any office in 2024,” she added.
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The news means she will not join the battle to replace retiring Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) in the state’s upcoming Senate primary, which former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) also passed on. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) is the clear favorite in the race, with both the Senate GOP campaign arm and former President Trump both endorsing him within the past week.
The decision by the Ukrainian-born Indiana Republican comes following disagreements with GOP leadership in the House. Spartz “voted present” multiple times during Kevin McCarthy’s heated speakership bid. More recently, she initially declined to support the motion to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee before changing her mind.
Spartz represents Indiana’s 5th Congressional District in Congress. The district includes part of Indianapolis and its conservative northern suburbs. Although typically out of reach for their party, Democrats have run competitive candidates there in recent cycles, as The Hill notes:
Former President Trump won the district in 2020 with 57 percent to only 41 percent for President Biden. Spartz won the seat by only 4.1 percentage points in 2020, 50 percent to 45.9 percent, before expanding that margin to 22.2 percentage points last year.
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Any bets she read the tea leaves about her recent refusal to not support the ‘speaker’ recently. IOW she is getting out before she does more self damage. Just my opinion of course.