![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/F-16Reveal_May30_Camilo-Diaz161-1024x683.jpg\")
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger speaks to attendees during the YF-16 50th Anniversary Celebration on May 30, 2024, at the Fort Worth Aviation Museum. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\nFormer U.S. Rep. Kay Granger\u2019s death was personal to all who knew her, including U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this world of partisanship that you see, Kay ran this congressional seat the way she ran the city, in a very bipartisan way,\u201d Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat, told the Fort Worth Report.<\/p>\n
Granger carved out her legacy as a staunch ally of Fort Worth\u2019s defense programs including fighter jets, helicopters and the conversion of Carswell Air Force Base into the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Tributes poured in Monday, a day after the announcement that Granger \u2014 who served Fort Worth for years on the city council, as its mayor and in Congress \u2014 died over the weekend at age 83.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur city lost one of our shining leaders; Kay was clearly a giant in North Texas and for Fort Worth, our city,\u201d said Veasey, who was elected to Congress in 2012 and is a member of the House Armed Services Committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He recalled working with Granger, the first Republican woman chair of the powerful U.S. House Appropriations Committee, to find federal funding for three healthcare centers in Tarrant County and constant support for Lockheed Martin\u2019s Fort Worth-built F-35 fighter jet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger speaks to attendees during the YF-16 50th Anniversary Celebration on May 30, 2024, at the Fort Worth Aviation Museum. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Granger\u2019s friends credited her for working across the aisle to benefit Fort Worth in sustained ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is a Mount Rushmore of Fort Worth, Kay Granger is on it,\u201d said Eric Fox, former Lockheed Martin Aeronautics senior director of government relations.<\/p>\n
Before she retired, Granger helped U.S. Rep. Jake Ellzey<\/a>, an ex-fighter and commercial pilot whose district includes parts of Tarrant and Dallas counties, win membership on Appropriations and the defense subcommittee, Fox said.<\/p>\n That \u201cwas absolutely key to cementing her legacy for generations in Fort Worth who may not remember who Kay Granger is, but they\u2019re going to remember having a job\u201d in North Texas aviation, military or defense, Fox said.<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman<\/a> succeeded Granger in representing the Fort Worth-centric 12th Congressional District. He said Granger\u2019s ability to build relationships earned her the respect that it took to become Appropriations chair.<\/p>\n \u201cNow that I know how the system works, I cannot tell you how difficult it was (for Granger) to become chair of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee<\/a>,\u201d Goldman told the Report. \u201cThat is probably the toughest position (to obtain). You have to have tremendous respect to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n When Goldman joined Congress in 2025, Granger generously opened her expansive Rolodex to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n The first question he\u2019s asked when he makes introductions is whose seat he filled, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time I say Kay Granger, (they say) huge shoes to fill,\u201d Goldman said. \u201cEverybody says that. Republicans and Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n Granger had a career of firsts: the city\u2019s first woman mayor, the first Republican woman from Texas elected to the U.S. House, and the first GOP woman to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee that allocates federal funds.<\/p>\n She was known as a fierce champion of her beloved Fort Worth until her retirement in 2025 after 28 years in Congress. But her success rested on her ability to get things done in Washington \u2014 for Fort Worth, the region, the state and causes she cared about.<\/p>\n Granger secured funding for her pet project \u2014 the multibillion dollar Panther Island economic development and flood control project creating a waterfront north of downtown Fort Worth \u2014 as well as directing billions of dollars for defense in North Texas, including the F-35 fighter.<\/p>\n She was successful in getting a new Navy combat ship named for Fort Worth, a point of pride for her \u2014 she was even the U.S.S. Fort Worth\u2019s sponsor \u2014 and saved it from Navy cost-cutters in 2021 and 2022. But that effort ultimately failed after she left Congress and the ship was decommissioned July 29 in San Diego.<\/p>\n Washington saluted her after her passing Sunday, with many heartfelt tributes from her congressional colleagues.<\/p>\n It was no less than the highest-ranking member of the House, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, who announced her passing Sunday on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cKay Granger devoted her life to serving her Fort Worth, Texas community \u2014 as a teacher and businesswoman, on the Fort Worth Zoning Commission and City Council, as mayor, and in Congress for nearly three decades,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThroughout her career, she broke barriers for women in public service.\u201d<\/p>\n Granger graduated from Eastern Hills High School<\/a> in 1961 and Texas Wesleyan University in 1965. She was a school teacher and insurance agency owner whose first taste of public service came on the Fort Worth Zoning Commission from 1981 through 1989. She served on the Fort Worth City Council from 1989 to 1991, and as mayor from 1991 to 1995.<\/p>\n Granger was elected to the House and joined the chamber in 1997, replacing Pete Geren, who opted to not seek reelection.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, she decided not to run again.<\/p>\n Becky Haskin, a Granger contemporary when the two were regular members of the East Fort Worth Business Association, remembers the moment when Granger confided she was going to run for city council. Haskin joined the campaign as its manager and became Granger\u2019s council assistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Later, after Granger successfully ran for mayor, Haskin became her mayoral assistant. Haskin subsequently was elected to the council.<\/p>\n Then came the day Haskin took a phone call from Geren. The then congressman was trying to find Granger, who was on a plane returning to Fort Worth. Geren asked Haskin to track Granger down at the airport \u2014 before reporters found her \u2014 and contact him.\u00a0<\/p>\n His message: He was not running again, and he needed Granger to run for the seat, Haskin said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe said, \u2018What am I going to do?\u2019\u201d Haskin recalled. \u201cI said, \u2018What do you mean? You\u2019re going to Washington.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/8829335894_47657726d7_k-1024x683.jpg\")
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger speaks at a World Economic Forum event in 2013. (Courtesy photo | World Economic Forum, Benedikt von Loebell)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DSC_9807-1024x681.jpg\")
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger speaks to guests at a Nov. 2024 ceremony and portrait unveiling in Washington, D.C. honoring her tenure on the House Appropriations Committee. The portrait will hang in the committee\u2019s main hearing room. (Courtesy photo | House Appropriations Committee)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CAS_granger-1-1024x683.jpg\")
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, listens to a speech on March 15, 2023 at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce’s Leaders in Government program at The Worthington Renaissance. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/10020454_0-1024x681.jpg\")
Kay Granger, on a 90-hour-a-week schedule, talks on her car phone while driving in her convertible Toyota Celica in May 1991. She had just been elected Fort Worth’s first female mayor. (Carolyn Bauman | Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, UTA Libraries)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2024-11-18_pnn_0179-1024x683.jpg\")
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, speaks during a ceremony and portrait unveiling honoring former House Appropriations Chair U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, in Nov. 2024. (Courtesy | House Appropriations Committee)<\/p>\n