Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), the only Ukrainian-born member of Congress, defied party advisors last weekend and attended multiple town halls despite organized protests over her vocal support for President Donald Trump and controversial views on the war in Ukraine. Instead of backing down, Spartz faced tough questions from constituents, many frustrated by her changing stance on U.S. support for her native country.
Ahead of the events, Spartz gave a pointed interview with The Telegraph, suggesting that Ukraine may need to accept territorial losses to Russia to avoid collapse. “If they would be winning the war, that will be very different,” she said. She voiced support for Trump’s approach to negotiate directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin and accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of failing his people. “There are no easy solutions,” she noted.
A longtime critic of Zelensky, Spartz had previously accused him of disrespecting the U.S. after clashing with Trump during a White House meeting. She warned that his re-election could lead to further territorial loss, saying, “If they elect him, they’re going to lose the rest of the country.”
Though she initially supported American aid to Ukraine, Spartz voted against a $61 billion aid package last year, citing rampant corruption in Ukraine’s government. At a previous town hall, she told constituents questioning her vote, “My number one job as an American congresswoman is to protect interests, American interests.”
Spartz has made it clear that despite her Ukrainian roots, her allegiance is to the U.S. “Everyone that comes across the ocean is an America first,” she said, referring to immigrants like herself. She consistently referred to Ukrainians as “them,” emphasizing her shift in identity and priorities.
Born in Nosiva, a village in northern Ukraine, Spartz immigrated to the U.S. in 2000, became a citizen, and eventually served as CFO for the Indiana Attorney General’s office before entering politics. She was elected to Congress in 2021 after a brief stint in the Indiana Senate.
Her tenure in Washington hasn’t been without controversy. In 2023, she was cleared after a House ethics probe looked into staff complaints of verbal abuse. In another incident, she was caught with a .380 pistol in her carry-on bag at Dulles International Airport. Her office called it an honest mistake; the gun was unloaded.
Spartz says her background in commercial real estate helped shape her negotiation style. “Everybody’s trying to screw you, and if you’re not good at negotiating, you will be screwed quickly,” she stated. While she doesn’t trust Putin, she supports Trump’s push for peace talks, saying, “The only way you can enforce peace with Putin is having the power to be able to win wars.”
She visited her bomb-damaged childhood home in Ukraine in 2022 but insists realism must guide U.S. foreign policy. “Everybody needs to be ready to have another war,” she warned. “But if we’re ready for the war, we might be able to have peace.”
