Or if they want to separate themselves from Trump, they are either retiring or have contested seats.”"It's important that when decisions are being made that the voices on the table be representative of the diversity of our caucus," Escobar said.Many of the toughest political battles will happen in the Texas suburbs, which used to be majority white and safely Republican.But the number of Texans in Congress with Granger's experience has been shrinking dramatically in recent years.
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS Congress of the United States House of Representatives COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 2125 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 20515-6115 Majority (202) 225-2927 Minority (202) 225-3641 June 10, 2020 The Honorable Nita M. Lowey The Honorable Kay Granger Chairwoman Ranking Member But Granger has been able to weather the tea party storm, and the former schoolteacher’s spot in Congress appears to be hers as long as she wants it. Granger. The anti-tax Club for Growth , funded about $1 million in ads against Granger . “An undervote was the only way we could protest her.”“If we’re talking about her phone not working or her TV, then I call her ‘Mom,’ ” Mr. Granger said. Granger’s son, J.D. “There are many reasons Republicans, especially in the House, that they’ve become reluctant to separate themselves from Trump. “It’s been very, very ugly if you watched some of the ads.”Kitty Bennett contributed research.Given that the deeply conservative bent of her district is likely to determine the outcome of the general election, Ms. Granger’s race is also the latest case in which Republicans appear to be jeopardizing their own desperate push to recruit and elect more women.The decision by some conservative groups to target one of only 11 Republican women seeking to return to Congress has perplexed Ms. Granger and her allies, given the wide acknowledgment among leaders that Republicans have fallen badly behind on recruiting and retaining women to serve, an effort seen as critical to the party’s survival.David M. McIntosh, the president of Club for Growth Action, said his group was seeking to defeat Ms. Granger as part of a broader effort to punish lawmakers who have supported excessive federal spending.In the meantime, residents continue to drive around the construction of three bridges over dry land — “a monstrosity of a bridge,” Mette Blockhan, a Fort Worth occupational therapist, said of one of them — a constant reminder of unfinished work and apparent dysfunction.“We didn’t target her because she’s a woman — it’s based on her record,” Mr. McIntosh said.
That, combined with Democrats taking control of the House, has diminished the overall influence Texans carry in Congress.“Regardless of who in the party is in control, the fact that these members are leaving, obviously that weakens the influence of the delegation,” said Richard Cohen, chief author of The Almanac of American Politics, adding that the delegation "has been known to carry its weight. “They’ve got a problem,” Cohen said.
This year, six of Granger's GOP colleagues from Texas, including five who would have had at least a decade of experience if they'd remained in their seats past the next election, announced retirement plans — a run for the exits that Democrats termed the "Texodus. Granger was the executive director of the Panther Island project, which has been plagued by mismanagement and accountability problems for years amid reports that it’s still in the design phase well over a decade into its development. In recent years, however, the turnover has been high. While Mr. Putnam is supported by anti-spending activists, one of his principal criticisms of Ms. Granger is that she has not secured enough federal money for the border wall that is Mr. Trump’s signature campaign promise.Representative Kay Granger is in an expensive primary battle while facing accusations that she has not done enough for President Trump, who endorsed her.To counter Mr. Putnam, Ms. Granger secured the coveted endorsement of Mr. Trump and energized her campaign operation, lining up endorsements from anti-abortion rights groups like the Susan B. Anthony List and high-ranking colleagues including Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No.