Democratic congressional candidate J.D. Ford says he will not pull the financial allegations from his campaign website, and he is accepting U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz’s challenge to debate.
Ford’s response, dated Sept. 21, answers a Sept. 18 letter in which Spartz demanded he remove or correct statements about her finances and congressional record. The two are competing for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District seat, which includes Hamilton County.
“I have read your letter and it raises more questions than answers,” Ford wrote to Spartz. “As you were a CPA, we have to assume your disclosures are correct. If your disclosures are wrong, it does not change the fact that you benefitted from stock trading while in Congress.”
He added: “I accept your invitation to finally debate. I will serve Hoosiers — not myself — in Congress.”
Spartz had said in her letter that she has never personally owned or traded individual stocks, and that transactions cited by Ford involved her husband Jason’s retirement account. Her campaign called the disputed claims “objectively verifiable facts” rather than differences of political opinion.
Ford attached a 495-page response with 15 exhibits drawn from House disclosure filings, Federal Election Commission reports and Hamilton County property records.
The response argues that Spartz filed multiple periodic transaction reports that do not identify her husband as the owner, even though the forms include a place to list owners other than the member of Congress. It cites four filings — IDs 20018952, 20018955, 20019527 and 20018254.
On the airline stocks Spartz described as “a few minor transactions,” Ford’s response says sales of Alaska Air Group and Southwest Airlines stock fell in disclosure ranges totaling between $450,002 and $1 million. It notes Indiana’s median household income of $71,957 and argues most Hoosiers would not view those figures as minor. The response also says no disclosure shows how or when the airline stocks were acquired — the first indication of ownership came when the sales were reported.
Ford’s team further says that when Spartz was a candidate, her disclosure listed no individual stock holdings, but her first report as a member, for filing year 2020, showed stock purchases between $1 million and $5 million, held in a Roth IRA.
Addressing Spartz’s July 22 vote for H.R. 7008, the Stop Insider Trading Act, the response calls the vote “nothing but a distraction,” saying the bill applies the same scrutiny to spouses’ trades and that Spartz is grandfathered in and may still sell stocks she currently owns.
The response raises a new allegation involving a Westfield investment property on Moontown Road that the Spartz family has owned since 2015. It says FEC filings show the campaign paid $30,000 in annual rent to Jason Spartz on Nov. 20, 2025, and made two payments to the Hamilton County treasurer for property taxes — $2,791.01 in November 2025 and $3,115.08 in April 2026 — that match tax amounts due on the parcel. It also points to campaign payments for utilities that it says may relate to the property.
“Based on the information contained in her Financial Disclosures, campaign funds have been used by Spartz to support her investment property,” the response states.
Spartz has not responded publicly to Ford’s letter. She has denied using her office for personal gain, saying her financial position has not materially changed because of her congressional service. In a separate Sept. 18 letter, she asked media organizations to verify the disputed allegations against public records before running paid communications containing them.
No debate date has been announced.