Rep. Kay Granger declares victory over challenger Chris Putnam in Republican primary
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, the senior Republican woman in the House, declared victory Tuesday night over Chris Putnam, her first primary challenger in almost a decade.
Granger had 58.29% of the District 12 vote to Putnam’s 41.71% with 98% of precincts reporting at 6:30 a.m.. She took the stage at Blue Mesa Grill just after 9:30 p.m. to thank her supporters. At the time, she had a roughly 60% to 40% lead over Putnam in Tarrant County, the most populated in the district.
“Thank you so much for this victory. I will never forget it,” she said to a cheering crowd.
The Putnam campaign called Granger just after 10:30 p.m. to concede. Putnam was unavailable for comment, according to a campaign staffer who said he was in a private watch party.
As of 11:50 p.m. Granger led with 59% of the vote in Tarrant County, 57% in Parker County and 54% in Wise County.
On the Democrat side, Lisa Welch led with 79.41% of the vote compared to Danny Anderson’s 20.58% across the district.
The district includes the western part of Tarrant County, all of Parker County and the eastern part of Wise County. A two-year term pays $174,000 a year.
Granger is the only Republican woman representing Texas in the House and, with 23 years in office, she is the most senior GOP woman there.
Putnam was her first challenger since 2012, but Granger said she believes voters recognized her as a voice for Fort Worth in Washington.
“I’ve been in this community a very long time,” Granger said.
She is known for working behind the scenes to help her district, from spearheading the Panther Island enterprise — a $1.17 billion project that would reshape the Trinity River north of downtown Fort Worth — to being a staunch defender of the military and F-35 fighter jets, built in Fort Worth by Lockheed Martin. She is the GOP’s senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful positions in Congress.
Putnam served on the Colleyville City Council, where he tried to stop the TEXRail commuter train line that runs from downtown Fort Worth to DFW Airport. The suburb is represented by Kenny Marchant, a retiring Republican who has served in Congress since 2005. That district is less conservative, so Putnam found a better fit for his politics in the 12th District.
This re-election bid was by far the hardest fought for Granger, who hasn’t faced a primary challenge since 2012, when she beat Bill Lawrence with more than 80% of the vote.
The race was a “double whammy” for Granger, who faced attacks for both her fiscal policies and social politics, said Rebecca Deen, chairwoman of UTA’s political science department.
“Her position as a senior appropriator made her a high profile target,” Deen said.
Through a deluge of campaign ads, Putnam tried to position himself as the more Trump-like candidate, although Granger received the president’s endorsement late last year. Donald Trump tweeted his support for Granger again Monday.
Granger said she believed she maintains a strong relationship with Trump, who she says sees her as a vocal supporter of national security and defense spending.
“With this president, I never have to look behind me and say, ‘Is he going to support this?’” Granger said. “If it’s for our military, he supports it.”
Putnam positioned himself as a political outsider to Granger’s two decades of experience. Campaign ads blasted Granger for having “gone Washington” and criticized her handling of government money. That criticism focused on the Panther Island project, which Putnam called “government waste.” Granger’s son, J.D. Granger, has been the executive director of the local effort to reshape the river.
The anti-tax Club for Growth, funded about $1 million in ads against Granger.
To appeal to social conservatives, Putnam said Granger was pro-choice, despite an endorsement from National Right to Life, which praised Granger’s 100% pro-life record in the 116th Congress. A pro-Putnam ad funded by Protect Freedom PAC used 13-year-old footage of Granger saying abortion is a decision a woman makes “with her own self and her own physician, and her own family.”
At the Tarrant County Democratic watch party in downtown Fort Worth, Lisa Welch, a political newcomer, said she was cautiously optimistic of her lead. District 12 has traditionally been heavily conservative, but Welch says she believes she can appeal to voters who are tired of partisan politics.
“I think we’ve come to a stalemate,” Welch said. “I think that they’re ready for some solutions — are ready for us to get something done.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 7:52 PM.
