U.S. House of Representatives
Tenure Spartz is the first Ukrainian-born person to serve as a member of the United States Congress. In late 2020, Spartz was identified as a participant in the Freedom Force, a group of incoming Republican members of the House of Representatives who "say they're fighting against socialism in America." In September 2021,
Business Insider reported that Spartz had violated the
Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, a federal transparency and conflict-of-interest law, by failing to properly disclose a purchase of stock in
Simon Property Group worth between $15,001 and $50,000. Spartz's tenure was marked by high staff turnover. Congressional watchdog Legistorm measured her turnover in 2021 at three and half times the average of offices of House members, the highest turnover for a non-retiring member. In May 2022,
Politico reported on what it described as a "toxic" environment within her office, with Spartz's temper quickly jumping from tepid to boiling, and reported that "aides who have left after a couple of months did so because the work environment became untenable". Examples of the office environment included Spartz ordering staff to record her direction to them and later denying the previously expressed instructions, despite the recordings. One former aide said, "the common theme: Staffers do their job, and then Victoria comes in saying that they have no idea what they're doing, that they are 'morons,' calling them 'idiots'". Spartz responded that her working style is "not for everyone" and that her critics "need to 'toughen up'". In June 2024, Spartz's chief of staff quit after less than a month on the job and her communications director quit after less than five months on the job. That same month, it was reported that the
House ethics committee opened a probe into the allegations against Spartz of "abuse", "general toxicity", and "rage" towards her staff. While the allegations were made prior to the
congressional primaries held on May 7, the probe was delayed until after the primary in order to avoid a "potential appearance of meddling in the election."
2023 speaker elections In January 2023, during the
2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election, Spartz declined to vote for party nominee
Kevin McCarthy on ballots four through 11, voting "
present" instead. She voted for McCarthy on the first three ballots and on the 12th through 15th ballots. After McCarthy became speaker, she was critical of his speakership. She voted against tabling (that is, setting aside without debate) a
motion to vacate brought against McCarthy, but ultimately voted against his removal on October 3, 2023. In the first ballot on
the vote for a new speaker, Spartz refused to vote for the party nominee,
Jim Jordan, casting instead a vote for
Thomas Massie. She did vote for the party nominee in all subsequent ballots.
Russian invasion of Ukraine , Rep.
Elissa Slotkin,
Vice President Harris, and Senator
Ben Cardin for the signing of the
Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022. May 2022 Spartz called the
Russian invasion of Ukraine starting in early 2022 "a genocide of the Ukrainian people by a crazy man". Spartz was one of the first US officials to call Russian actions "war crimes". At the time of the invasion, Spartz had family still living in Ukraine, including her grandmother, who was living in
Chernihiv, which was under
siege by Russia. During the ongoing invasion, Spartz traveled to Ukraine twice in April 2022. The first time was an unannounced visit to
Bucha with U.S. Senator
Steve Daines. Spartz and Daines were the first two U.S. officials to visit Ukraine since the war started. The second trip was to
Lviv, Kyiv, and
Odesa with Representative
Tim Walberg. During the trip, Spartz met with
Metropolitan Epifaniy. Spartz has been critical of the speed and effectiveness of international humanitarian aid efforts. In July 2022, Spartz criticized Ukrainian president
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accusing him of "playing politics and theater" and not governing seriously. In an interview with Ukrainian press, she accused the country's leaders of not preparing for war and not understanding the war's importance. She asserted that there is insufficient monitoring of U.S.-provided weaponry, and that Congress needs to take control in this area. Also in July, Spartz enumerated six allegations against
Andrii Yermak, a
top official in Ukraine's government. Among the accusations were leaking important secret information to Belarus and Russia by Yermak, mismanaging peace negotiations he conducted with
Dmitry Kozak just before the war, and then falsely "assuring Ukrainian leadership that no attack by Russia was going to happen" in February 2022, "contrary to western intelligence, to prevent Ukraine from properly preparing for the war", and through his deputy
Oleh Tatarov delaying the appointment of an anti-corruption prosecutor. Spartz asked the White House to investigate the allegations and report to a Congressional oversight committee. The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine responded that Spartz's allegations with regard to Andrii Yermak were "baseless speculation". Former U.S. ambassador to Russia
Michael McFaul, who
has been working with Yermak on sanctions policy, said: "Yermak most certainly does not strike me as being pro-Russian. He is stridently anti-Putin and his barbaric regime." Some Republican representatives and senators disagreed with Spartz's accusations and believed the accusations could hurt the war effort and damage U.S. relations with Ukraine, while boosting GOP elements who opposed aid to Ukraine. In 2024, Spartz voted against a crucial $60 billion aid package for Ukraine, shortly after being accused by a primary challenger of prioritizing aid to Ukraine over domestic Republican priorities including the border wall. Her vote against the U.S. aid for Ukraine came just three days after a Russian missile strike on Chernihiv, where her family lived, killed 18 civilians and injured 78. Having previously been lauded in Chernihiv for her life story and as "one of their own", some inhabitants' reactions were described as pride turning into "anger" and a "sense of betrayal" due to her vote against the aid, intensified after the Russian bombing during rush hour on her hometown.
Committee assignments For the
118th Congress: •
Committee on the Judiciary •
Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement •
Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Caucus membership •
Republican Study Committee •
Congressional Ukraine Caucus •
House Baltic Caucus •
Bulgaria Caucus •
French Caucus •
German-American Caucus • Caucus on
Hellenic Issues •
Slovak Caucus • Caucus on
Poland •
United Kingdom Caucus == Political positions ==