Early next month, Texas congresswoman Kay Granger will finish her 14th and final term in the House of Representatives, but the 81-year-old Republican didn’t cast a vote during last week’s shutdown fight. She hasn’t voted at the U.S. Capitol since July. This weekend, it emerged that Granger has been suffering from dementia and has been residing at a senior living facility — which neither she, her congressional office, nor House GOP leaders had disclosed to the public. The news has renewed concerns about lawmakers of advanced age remaining in office beyond the point when they can effectively handle their responsibilities, and her absence has drawn criticism since the House GOP holds such a slim majority.

Granger, who was first elected to Congress in 1996, announced a year ago that she would not seek reelection in 2024. Granger had served as the chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, but she stepped down from that role in April. According to her congressional website, the last vote she cast in the House was on July 24. In November, Republican Craig Goldman won her open seat.

On Friday, a right-wing news site called the Dallas Express reported that it had been unable to contact Granger about how she would vote amid the shutdown fight. The publication, whose CEO ran against Granger in 2020, said that it “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........

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