According to reports, a Texas Congresswoman had been absent from Capitol Hill for roughly half a year before she was recently located at a memory care facility. Constituents of 81-year-old Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) in Texas Congressional District 12 began to question where their elected representative was after it was revealed the last vote she participated in was in late July.
Subsequently, inquiries began to determine what had happened to Granger, where outlets such as the Dallas Express attempted to contact her offices to no avail. When contacting the offices of Granger, reporters were met with the message, “I am sorry we are unable to answer your phone right now. We are really glad you called us. Please leave your name, phone number and a brief message and someone in our office will call you back as soon as possible.”
After continual investigation, the local outlet eventually received a tip. “We then received a tip from a Granger constituent who shared that the Congresswoman has been residing at a local memory care and assisted living home for some time after having been found wandering lost and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood,” the Dallas Express wrote.
The outlet continued, “The Dallas Express team visited the facility to confirm whether Granger was residing there and to inquire about how she planned to vote on the spending bill. Upon arrival, two employees confirmed that Granger is indeed living at the facility. However, we were not permitted to conduct an interview regarding the current spending debate in the House of Representatives and how or if Ms. Granger planned to vote.”
Newswire reported on X, “Rep. Kay Granger, not seen in six months, located at a dementia care home — WCBM.” Moreover, Rep. Kay Granger’s official X account posted on December 20, “I have been honored to have had the best congressional interns assisting me and my team! Thank you all for your great service to TX-12 over the years!”
However, Community Notes provided additional context below the post, stating, “As of Dec. 20, 2024, it has been confirmed that Rep. Granger has been admitted to a memory care and assisted living home in Dallas, TX, and has been there for some time.” Reportedly, Granger is set to retire from Congresss after the current session expires.
The news has sparked a variety of reactions, with some stating it isn’t acceptable for Granger to hold public office in her condition. “I’m hearing she’s in a memory care unit. We need to have standards. Representatives who miss 3 votes in a row without announcing a legitimate medical reason should have their salaries and benefits frozen. This has to stop!” one person wrote on social media.
“We need someone there with their full capacities. Swear Craig in early. That’s the solution. That’s the right thing to do. She just missed a big vote, it wasn’t won/loss on one vote but we still have to protect our country, it’s not about hurt feelings. She’s a public servant, we have thanked her for her service but now she needs to resign,” Tarrant County resident Hollie Plemons said.
Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kay_Granger_(16244090988).jpg
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