Victoria Spartz wins GOP 5th District primary, despite late race entry and millions spent

Indiana U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz won the Republican primary for the 5th Congressional District Tuesday night after reversing her 2023 decision not to run for reelection. She gave herself just three months to campaign against eight other Republicans, drawing a slew of spending and negative attacks on her record in Washington D.C.

With 99% of votes counted, Spartz won the primary with 39% of the vote over Noblesville state Rep. Chuck Goodrich who garnered 33% of the vote. The closest competitors to those two candidates were Max Engling with 10% of the vote and Raju Chinthala with 7% of the vote. The other candidates running Tuesday included Matthew Peiffer, Mark Hurt, Larry Savage, LD Powell and Patrick Malayter.

Spartz will face Tuesday's Democratic primary winner Deborah Pickett in the November general election.

Spartz and Goodrich were the front runners in the Republican primary, according to internal polling from both campaigns, which led to a wave of negative political attack ads on television and mailers between the two in the last three months.

In a statement Tuesday after her victory, Spartz highlighted the millions in spending Goodrich's campaign launched at the congresswoman since she entered the race in February. Goodrich loaned his campaign about $4.6 million as of late April.

“My victory in this election is a testament to the American people and my fellow Hoosiers that money and lies do not buy elections," Spartz said in the statement. "I am honored to represent Indiana and ready to get back to work to get our great Republic back on track."

Fact check: What is true and false in Spartz and Goodrich 5th Congressional District attack ads?

Goodrich thanked supporters in brief remarks Tuesday evening at the Mill Top Banquet and Conference Center in Noblesville.

“I still believe it is our responsibility to protect the American dream,” Goodrich said. He acknowledged friends and volunteers who have supported him since his ran for the Statehouse.

Goodrich told IndyStar he was uncertain whether he would stay in politics after this year. Due to the congressional primary, Goodrich did not run for reelection to his seat in Indiana's House of Representatives, which he has held since 2018.

“I’ll get with my wife and family,” he said. “We just ran a hard race for 14 months. I don’t think we left one leaf unturned.”

How Victoria Spartz went from not seeking reelection to a primary election win

It’s been a full 180-degree turn for Spartz in the last year. The congresswoman has acknowledged in interviews she did not make it easy for herself with a short three-month runway to Election Day.

The question leading up to Tuesday would be whether her decision to run for another term after announcing in 2023 she would not run for reelection would hurt her standing with voters, but Spartz led in every county on Election Day except for Delaware County where she trailed Goodrich by less than 1% of the vote.

In Carmel, Cara Langford voted to re-elect Spartz because she felt Goodrich wouldn't represent her values in Congress.

“My understanding of him is that he wasn’t consistently pro-life,” Langford said. Spartz was endorsed in the primary by Indiana Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America candidate fund.

From December: Is U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz in or out? Republicans lining up to run as she weighs decision

Spartz officially reversed course in early February and filed for reelection just days before the primary filing deadline. The congresswoman brought the power of incumbency with her to the race and the ability to point to her two terms in Washington D.C. But she also faced attacks from opponents both for flipping her decision and her record in Congress, mostly from Goodrich, a state representative from Noblesville and CEO of Gaylor Electric, who criticized the Ukraine-born congresswoman's previous support for financial aid to Ukraine.

Goodrich led in fundraising throughout the primary, raising nearly $5.5 million as of mid-April, mostly boosted by the millions in personal loans to his campaign.

While Spartz criticized Goodrich's spending, the congresswoman gave about $700,000 to her campaign between April 22 and April 30, the last weeks of the primary. Spartz swiped back at Goodrich over the last few months attacking his business experience as CEO of Gaylor Electric, wealth and legislative record at the Statehouse.

Contact IndyStar's state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at [email protected] or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X@CarloniBrittany.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Victoria Spartz wins GOP primary despite millions spent against her