Congressional Record

Former Rep. Kay Granger, Texas Republican, Dies at Age 83

Granger's death closes a congressional career spanning nearly three decades, during which she chaired the House Appropriations Committee — a position that placed her among the most influential...

The Congressional Times · August 3, 2026

Former U.S. Representative Kay Granger (R-TX) died on August 3, 2026, at the age of 83, according to a report published by Fox News citing her office. Granger represented Texas's 12th Congressional District, encompassing the Fort Worth metropolitan area, from January 1997 until her retirement in January 2025 — a tenure of approximately 28 years, according to the official Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress.

Prior to her congressional service, Granger served as Mayor of Fort Worth, a position her office described as making her the city's first female mayor. Her election to Congress in 1996 made her the first Republican woman elected to Congress from Texas, according to House records archived by the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Granger's most consequential institutional role came when she chaired the House Appropriations Committee during the 118th Congress (2023–2025), following House Republicans' capture of the majority in the November 2022 midterm elections. The Appropriations Committee holds jurisdiction over all annual discretionary federal spending bills, which in Fiscal Year 2024 totaled approximately $1.66 trillion, per the Congressional Budget Office's March 2024 baseline. Granger stepped down from the chairmanship in December 2024 before her full term concluded, citing health reasons, as reported at the time by Politico.

During her tenure on the Appropriations Committee, Granger served as chair or ranking member of subcommittees covering the State Department and foreign operations budgets, making her a central figure in annual foreign aid and diplomatic funding negotiations. Specific subcommittee funding figures for those years are available in the public record through the House Appropriations Committee's published bill text and accompanying reports filed with the Clerk of the House.

Granger did not seek re-election in 2024. Her 12th District seat was subsequently won by Republican John Barber in the November 2024 general election, according to the Texas Secretary of State's certified election results. The full details of Granger's cause of death and survivors were not immediately available in the source material reviewed for this report; her official congressional biography and any formal statement from her family would constitute the authoritative public record on those details.

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