(FreedomBeacon.com)- Victoria Spartz, a Republican representative from Indiana, announced late last week that she will not run for re-election in the 2024 cycle.
That will leave a spot open in the conservative state, where Democrats hope they might be able to pick up a seat as they try to regain the majority.
In making her announcement, Spartz released a statement that said:
“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. 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.”
As Spartz mentioned in her speech, she’s stepping away from national politics because she wants to spend more time focusing on her personal life.
On paper, this might be a blow for Republicans, as Spartz won her re-election bid last November by 22 points over her Democratic challenger in the Fifth District of Indiana. However, the GOP will likely be able to retain the seat nonetheless, even though they’ll have to run a new candidate for it.
Spartz’s retirement announcement means at least two incumbent Republican members of the House will not be back in the next Congress. Representative Jim Banks has already announced he won’t be running for re-election, deciding instead to run for a seat on the U.S. Senate.
Spartz was born in the northern part of Ukraine and became a United States naturalized citizen when she married her husband. She was a central figure in the messaging put out by the Republican Party following Russia’s invasion of her home country in February of 2022, and for good reason.
In April of that year, she visited the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Bucha along with Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana. They were the first two officials from the United States to travel to Ukraine after Russia invaded the country.
Spartz was very critical of how President Joe Biden was responding to Russia’s invasion. One of her central points was that the Biden administration wasn’t acting quick enough to arm the Ukrainian army.
As she said back in March of 2022:
“This president needs to get his act together and exercise some leadership. What’s happening under his watch is [an] atrocity. What he’s doing to this country and to the world is unforgivable.
“He must act decisively fast or this blood of many millions of Ukrainians will be on his hands, too.”
At the same time, Spartz has criticized Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine. She’s urged America to ensure there is proper oversight of the military aid that the U.S. is sending Ukraine, as she has concerns about corruption.
