U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz faced two hours of boos and jeers Friday night at a town hall in Westfield where she took questions about topics like the Trump administration, the Department of Government Efficiency and immigration.
Spartz, who represents Indiana’s Fifth Congressional District, hosted the town hall that was attended by more than 500 people at the IMMI Conference Center, just south of East 191st Street. The event was moved earlier in the week from Westfield City Hall to accommodate a larger crowd. Every seat inside the conference center was filled, and about 100 more people listened outside the doors or protested in the parking lot.
Attendees booed mentions of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They chanted “do your job” when people asked how Congress can fix problems and preserve Social Security and Medicare.
The crowd jeered when Spartz said she would not call for the resignations of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and others involved in a group chat on the messaging app Signal about U.S. military war plans in Yemen. The group chat was revealed this week by Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, who Waltz mistakenly invited to the chat.
The scene in Westfield was similar to other Congressional town halls around the country, such as when U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-North Carolina, was booed two weeks ago. This month, the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Richard Hudson, R-North Carolina, advised House Republicans to not hold town halls, media has reported.
Spartz was elected to represent the Fifth Congressional District in 2020, and she won re-election last year. The district covers parts of Hamilton, Delaware and Madison counties. She has drawn the ire of some in her own party and last year announced she would refuse to go to meetings for committees or the GOP caucus. Also last year, she reversed an earlier decision not to seek re-election and entered a crowded field in the primary.
About 15 minutes into the event on Friday, Spartz asked the crowd to stop shouting during a discussion about the national budget and DOGE.
“If we’re going to scream the whole time, it’s a waste of time,” Spartz said. “We don’t have to do it, and I won’t want to do it because it’s a waste of time for people who came here to hear us.”
More boos came after an attendee asked Spartz if tariffs are “an indirect tax on Americans.” Spartz said, “It depends,” and continued that tariffs can be used to increase domestic production and bring manufacturers back to the United States. However, she said tariffs are not a long-term solution.
The crowd reacted in fury after a man asked Spartz if immigrants facing deportation are entitled to due process. Spartz noted that she is an immigrant who was born in Ukraine and came to the U.S. legally. She called the southern U.S. border “insanity.”
“There is no due process if you come here illegally because you violated the law, period,” she said. “You violated the law, you are not entitled to due process.”
More than half of the crowd left with about 30 minutes remaining in the event with people yelling that Spartz was not giving actual answers to questions.
Following the event, attendees told IBJ they are worried about the direction of the country under Trump, and they came to Westfield to voice their frustration.
“I really listened to her, yeah, but it was just painful,” Amy Guzman said. “That’s why I think most people walked out. It was just painful to listen to because we’re dancing around the real subject here.”
Spartz was scheduled to hold another town hall at 11 a.m. Saturday at Muncie City Hall.