Former Fort Worth U.S. Rep. Kay Granger has died, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a Sunday social media post. She was 83.
Granger was the first Republican woman elected to represent Texas in Washington, D.C.
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She took the seat in 1997 after Democrat Pete Geren retired, defeating Hugh Parmer, and went on to serve Texas’ 12th Congressional District for nearly three decades. Granger was the most senior Republican member of the state’s delegation by the end of her tenure. During this time, she also rose through the ranks to lead the powerful House Appropriations Committee, the first woman from her party to hold that position.
Across the Texas delegation, Granger’s legacy was honored. Sen. Ted Cruz called her life one of “historic firsts” and Sen. John Cornyn described her as “a trailblazer.”
Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, Granger’s successor, said in a social media post Granger “transformed the city she loved,” working “to improve the lives of those she represented.”
A defense hawk, Granger became one of the House’s most reliable champions of military spending. In 2011, she co-founded the bipartisan Joint Strike Fighter Caucus to shield from budget cuts the F-35 fighter jet program — assembled at Lockheed Martin’s main plant in her own west Fort Worth backyard. Six years later, she became the first woman to chair the Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee, where she helmed a $9.3 billion buy of the jets in 2018, before rising to lead the full committee and securing a $34 billion Pentagon contract for 478 more F-35s during her yearlong tenure. Fittingly, Lockheed Martin’s employees and PAC were her single largest source of campaign money over her career, combining for nearly $800,000 in contributions.
“It was an honor to serve alongside her on the House Appropriations Committee and to call her a friend,” said Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Waxahachie, who served with Granger on the panel. “She made history throughout her career, but she never lost sight of the people she represented.”
Granger’s pull stretched well beyond Washington, reshaping her hometown’s skyline. She was the driving force behind Panther Island, an $1.1 billion effort to reroute the Trinity River and turn 800 acres north of downtown Fort Worth into a riverwalk-style entertainment and flood-control district. Her son J.D. Granger ran the project for 16 years as head of the Trinity River Vision Authority — a role that fueled accusations of nepotism, especially as Panther Island struggled to nail federal funding. He stepped down in 2022 just months after the project received $403 million from President Biden’s infrastructure law, which his mother voted for yet publicly celebrated the family’s signature project.
As her seniority grew, so did the friction between her brand of old-school, defense-focused Republicanism and a party base pulling hard to the right. Hardline conservatives often criticized her as too moderate and as part of a GOP establishment willing to compromise with Democrats.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said her “work left a lasting mark on Fort Worth, Texas, and the Appropriations Committee.”
Granger once called herself a “pro-choice Republican,” and her first congressional campaign in 1996 was boosted by a PAC dedicated to electing abortion-rights supporters. Facing a well-funded, MAGA-aligned primary challenge from tech executive Chris Putnam in 2020, Granger reversed course, declaring herself anti-abortion and eventually signing onto a legal brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. She survived that primary, though by her smallest margin in a decade.
Granger’s final year in Congress, though, was steeped in mystery. She announced in late 2023 that she would not seek reelection and stepped down from her role as appropriations committee chair in early 2024. She then missed several months of votes due to her declining health, and neither she nor her staff had told constituents for months.
The Dallas Express, whose CEO is Putnam, reported in December 2024 that Granger was living at a senior facility. Her son Brandon then confirmed to The Dallas Morning News that she had been dealing with “dementia issues.”
Rep. Roger Williams, R-Willow Park, remembered her as a “patriot who understood the true meaning of public service.”
“Her word was her bond, and she led with strength, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to the people she served,” Williams said. “I was proud to call her a friend, and she will be greatly missed.”
Prior to her barrier-breaking tenure in Congress, Granger also left her mark locally for almost five years as Fort Worth Mayor, predating her defense advocacy. She became Fort Worth’s first female mayor in 1991, just as the Cold War waned, and aerospace giant General Dynamics ordered massive layoffs, and Carswell Air Force Base, one of the area’s biggest employers, was slated to close.
Granger spent her years in local office fighting to soften the blow, lobbying to convert Carswell into a Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base rather than lose it outright, while also pushing citizen-patrol programs that helped cut the city’s crime rate by roughly half.
In a Facebook post honoring Granger, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker described her as a “trailblazer and tenacious leader” as well as “a mentor and friend.”
“What a lady, and the end of an era in political service,” Parker said.cebook post honoring Granger, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker described her as a “trailblazer and tenacious leader” as well as “a mentor and friend.”
“What a lady, and the end of an era in political service,” Parker said.