Due Process

Indiana Republican Who Said Undocumented Immigrants Shouldn't Get Due Process Has Lost Reelection to Congress

Good riddance to Rep. Victoria Spartz.

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Victoria Spartz | ANNABELLE GORDON/UPI/Newscom
(ANNABELLE GORDON/UPI/Newscom)

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R–Ind.) said last year that undocumented immigrants didn't deserve due process. On Tuesday, voters in her district decided that she no longer deserved to be a member of Congress.

Spartz lost her bid for a fourth term in Congress. CNN called the race late Tuesday night, with her opponent, J.D. Ford, leading by about three percentage points and with more than 95 percent of the vote counted.

Spartz made headlines last year when she clashed with constituents at a town hall event—where she said that undocumented immigrants don't deserve due process.

"If you violated the law, you are not entitled to due process," she claimed. She said, and tweeted, versions of that same message on other occasions.

As Reason's Billy Binion noted last year, Spartz was one of many Republican officials who have recently tried to undermine this core constitutional right. "Justice should not be reduced to vengeance, and constitutional rights should not be treated as privileges, revocable at a politician's whim," Binion wrote.

Indeed, those who refuse to uphold the rights and values embedded in the Constitution do not deserve to represent Americans in Congress. Good riddance to Spartz and her warped views on due process.

Taking her seat in Congress will be J.D. Ford, the first openly gay person elected to the Indiana state Senate, where he has been a member since 2018.

Spartz' loss is a stunning shift, given how the district has voted in recent years. She won by more than 18 points in 2024 and more than 22 points in 2022. President Donald Trump won the district by more than 17 points two years ago.

Polls anticipated a closer race this time around, but Spartz was considered a clear favorite to hold the seat.

But there's been a lot of anger and frustration in farm country about inflation and tariffs. That's been an underappreciated factor in the midterm campaign. And it probably played a role here.