**FORT WORTH, Texas** — Former Rep. Kay Granger, the Fort Worth Republican who became the first woman elected mayor of the city and later the first Republican woman to chair the House Appropriations Committee, died Sunday. She was 83.
Her son, J.D. Granger, confirmed her death. A cause was not immediately released in the first announcements; her family had earlier said dementia-related illness contributed to her long absence from Washington in the final months of her last term. Some later accounts said the cause was Alzheimer’s disease.
Tributes followed from House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. Ted Cruz and other Texas officials. Johnson called her a close friend who “devoted her life to serving her Fort Worth, Texas community,” from teaching and business through the Zoning Commission, City Council, mayor’s office and nearly three decades in Congress. Cruz said she spent those years advocating for North Texas, the military and a strong national defense. Rep. Craig Goldman, who succeeded her in the 12th District, called her a Texas political legend. Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, a former Granger staffer, described her as a trailblazer and mentor.
Born Norvell Kay Granger on Jan. 18, 1943, in Greenville, she grew up in Fort Worth, graduated from Eastern Hills High School and earned a degree from Texas Wesleyan University in 1965. She taught high school, later ran an insurance business and raised three children as a single mother after her divorce. She served on the Zoning Commission from 1981 to 1989, then the City Council, and in 1991 became Fort Worth’s first female mayor, emphasizing economic development, public safety and growth.
Elected to Congress in 1996, she took office in 1997 and served 14 terms until she retired in January 2025. She spent about 25 years on Appropriations, chaired the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee — another first for a woman — and became committee chair after Republicans won the House in 2022. She was a leading advocate for the F-35 program built by Lockheed Martin in her district and for other defense work tied to the North Texas economy. She stepped down as Appropriations chair in April 2024. In 2023 she announced she would not seek another term. Health concerns and missed votes in 2024 drew public attention before her family discussed the dementia-related challenges she faced.
Granger’s career linked city hall to one of the most powerful posts in the House. Colleagues remembered both the historic firsts and a long record of constituent work and defense spending that helped shape Fort Worth.
