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U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, missed more than half of the votes in the House of Representatives this year, exceeding the number of votes she missed in her entire first decade in Congress.
Granger, 81, missed 279 of the House’s 517 votes in 2024, more than the 278 votes she missed between 1997 and 2006. Her last vote was July 24 on an amendment to reduce the salary of an Environmental Protection Agency official to $1.
By contrast, Granger missed only 32 votes in 2023.
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Granger’s family told The Dallas Morning News on Sunday that the congresswoman has been “having some dementia issues” and is living in a Fort Worth assisted living facility.
In a statement from her office, Granger acknowledged facing “unforeseen health challenges over the past year.” Brandon Granger, the lawmaker’s son, said the congresswoman resides in the independent living facility at Tradition Senior Living. Contrary to some media reports, she is not in a memory care facility, Brandon Granger said.
It’s not uncommon for lawmakers to miss votes if they’re recovering from health issues or campaigning for another office.
However, Granger is the only retiring member of the 118th Congress to miss more than 200 votes this year, according to a Dallas Morning News review of congressional voting records. Only three members of that group missed at least 150 votes: Jamaal Bowman, D-New York, who lost his primary in June, missed 169 votes; House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., missed 167 votes; and Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., who was diagnosed with Parksinson’s disease last year, missed 152 votes.
Retiring Reps. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., didn’t miss a single vote. Rosendale briefly ran for Senate. Eight retiring members missed fewer than 10 votes, including Colin Allred, D-Dallas, who missed eight votes while running to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
“From Jan. 1997 to Dec. 2024, Granger missed 1,312 of 17,901 roll call votes, which is 7.3%,” according to GovTrack.us, a government transparency site that tracks congressional legislation and votes. “This is much worse than the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.”
More than one-fifth, 21%, of Granger’s missed votes came in the final year of her 28-year congressional career.
Only one other member of the Texas congressional delegation since 2020 has missed a majority of votes in their final year in office: former Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell, missed 148 of the chamber’s 253 votes that year.
Former Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, missed four votes during her final year in office in 2022. Ex-Reps. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, and Will Hurd, R-Helotes, missed a single-digit number of votes, while then-Reps. Mac Thornberry, Pete Olson, Bill Flores and Van Taylor missed between 20 and 24 votes in their final years. Former Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, missed 90 votes in his last year.
First elected in 1996, Granger rose to become the first Republican chairwoman of the powerful Appropriations Committee that is responsible for federal discretionary spending. She relinquished her gavel in April, handing off her leadership post mid-Congress to Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. Granger announced her intent to step down as chair in March, months after saying she wouldn’t seek reelection this year.
Elected officials in recent years have had to reckon with calls for aging leaders to pass the torch. President Joe Biden, 82, notably withdrew his reelection bid after facing intense questions about his age and fitness. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is stepping down from leadership after his health was questioned following a pair of public appearances last year during which he froze on camera for several seconds.
Five members of Congress have died in office over the past two years, including 90-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who was 74.
There’s little recourse to remove lawmakers from office against their will beyond their constituents voting them out of office.
Congress has the authority to expel members with a two-thirds vote, but that tool has only been deployed successfully twice since 2000: Once in 2002 to remove James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was convicted of defrauding the U.S., filing false tax returns and racketeering, among other charges, and again in 2023 to remove embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who had been federally indicted on 23 counts.
Nolan covers Texas politics. Before relocating to Austin in June 2024, he spent nearly a decade in Washington, D.C., reporting on national politics, including the White House, Congress and presidential campaigns. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University.
Julia is a breaking news reporter with the Dallas Morning News. She is a Louisiana native and a graduate of the University of Mississippi where she studied journalism and public policy. She previously covered education for Mississippi Today in Jackson, Miss.
