Spartz won’t seek elected office in 2024

The Indiana Republican only arrived on Capitol Hill in 2021, but she’s cut a peripatetic path since getting there. Just last month, she voted “present” multiple times as Kevin McCarthy struggled to win sufficient support for the speakership, a switch after initially supporting him.

Then she issued a strong statement opposing the removal of House Democratic members from their panels, citing due process concerns, before backtracking amid party leaders’ non-binding concessions and supported yanking Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The first Ukrainian-born lawmaker elected to Congress also drew cringes from within her own party after intense criticisms of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid the country’s struggle against a Russian invasion. Many feared Spartz’s comments would be used to undermine the U.S.-Ukraine alliance at a crucial point in the conflict.

Spartz has also drawn scrutiny for her poor staff retention rate. Several of her former aides described to POLITICO a hostile work environment where the boss wielded an unpredictable and volatile temper.

Her district, Indiana’s 5th, was made significantly more Republican-friendly during redistricting, so the GOP will be favored to retain it next fall.