Republican congresswoman living in care facility after she was found wandering ‘confused’

A Texas congresswoman is living in a care facility for senior citizens after being found wandering and confused in her old neighborhood, despite being a current elected representative, a Dallas-area news outlet has reported.

The Dallas Express reports that Kay Granger, a retiring congresswoman representing Tarrant County in the House of Representatives, now lives full-time at an assisted living facility. A spokesperson denied that Granger was “in memory care” in a statement to NBC News on Sunday, but did not dispute the Express’s reporting indicating that Granger relocated to the facility after she was “found wandering lost and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood” in Fort Worth.

Nor did the spokesperson dispute a claim from the facility’s executive director that Granger lives there. Tradition Senior Living’s Taylor Manziel told the Express: “This is her home.”

Granger, according to Fort Worth Magazine and other outlets, was present in the Capitol as recently as November for the unveiling of her congressional portrait. But she did not participate in votes last week as the single-digit Republican majority in the House of Representatives fought to pass several funding bills aimed at preventing a government shutdown at the end of Friday.

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“As many family, friends, and colleagues have known, I have been navigating some unforseen health challenges over the past year. However, since early September, my health challenges have progressed making frequent travel to Washington difficult and unpredictable,” Granger said in part on Sunday in a statement from her office obtained by NBC News.

The Republican congresswoman did not stand for re-election this year; her term will expire in January. But some local officials and Republican operatives in Texas are now openly complaining that the rapid progression of Granger’s difficulties meant that her condition had been covered up for some time. A handful have already called for her elected replacement,

“The fact that Kay Granger is unable to leave her nursing home to participate in the most important congressional vote of the year suggests she was already in visible decline when she ran for re-election in 2022,” wrote Texas GOP executive committeeman Rolando Garcia on Twitter. “A sad and humiliating way to end her political career. Sad that nobody cared enough to ’take away the keys’ before she reached this moment. And a sad commentary on the congressional gerontocracy.”

In addition to missing votes in Congress, Granger’s absence leaves residents of Tarrant County without a congressional office able to respond to concerns, assist with navigating government programs, or participate in nominations for applicants to America’s service academies. The Express reported that both her congressional offices in DC and local office in the district appear to have closed up shop ahead of Thanksgiving with no signs of reopening.

“The margin in Congress is razor thin and the lack of a Republican vote representing CD-12 disenfranchises 2 million people,” wrote Tarrant County GOP chairman in a statement to the Express. “We deserve better.”