Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) faced a fiery crowd during her two-hour townhall in Westfield, a northern suburb of Indianapolis, after defending tech billionaire Elon Musk and his work for President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Spartz, who represents Indiana’s fifth Congressional District, was repeatedly drowned out by boos from the raucous crowd during her Friday townhall. She talked about Russia’s three-year invasion of Ukraine and refused to call on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz to resign over the Signal chat debacle.
One attendee at the packed event asked Spartz, a Ukrainian-born congresswoman, if she would demand an “immediate” resignation of Hegseth, Waltz and the rest of Trump administration officials that were in the Signal group chat discussing strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, a thread that The Atlantic magazine’s top editor Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to.
The crowd then broke out in cheers before Spartz responded, prompting boos.
“So let me just address, no, I will not demand their resignations,” Spartz said.
Waltz added Goldberg to the roughly 18-member chat where Hegseth, hours before the U.S. carried out strikes against the Houthis earlier this month, shared specific information about the weapons used and the timing of the airstrikes, including precise times MQ-9 drones and American F-18 fighter jets lifted off to Yemen.
Apart from the discussion about the Signal chat breach, Spartz also faced backlash for defending DOGE’s work. The advisory board has cut funding and looked to dismantle entire agencies and departments with the goal of rooting out waste and bolstering government efficiency. The initiatives have led to terminations of thousands of federal government employees, developments that have sparked strong criticism from Democrats.
Spartz praised DOGE, claiming the board has discovered “true fraud, waste and abuse,” according to Courthouse News Service.
“If you just came here to scream, then we will be unable to have a conversation right,” Spartz told the crowd. “I want you to hear, you might not like what I have to say but I thought you would like it, I thought you would like it.”
The Indiana Republican also said that she is a supporter of the NATO military alliance, calling it “an important institution, for the security of Europe,” but adding that Washington “needs to make sure Europeans do better too.”
The Chair of the Hamilton County Democrats Josh Lowry was with protestors outside of the townhall, according to a video he shared on the social media platform X.
“This is what democracy looks like,” the protestors could be heard yelling, with some holding signs that read “honor, love respect immigrants.”
After the event, Spartz thanked her constituents for attending the Friday event.
“These town halls are not easy in the current political environment but an important part of the process,” the House lawmaker wrote Friday night on X.
Spartz is not the only ...
